Supporters and those living with Parkinson’s disease will be coming together on Saturday, Sept. 9 for the Parkinson SuperWalk.
The walk is to “celebrate everyday heroes,” says Philip Konrad, the facilitator of the 100 Mile Parkinson Support Group.
The event hopes to raise awareness and fundraise for the cause, says Konrad, although he adds that fundraising is not necessary.
“There are about 20 of them in B.C. on Saturday and they’ve been going on since 1990. We consider it moral and also financial — we don’t turn down donations. Last year we had about 30 people donate $20 and that was nice.”
Anyone is welcome, says Konrad. Last year’s event saw about 40 people come to support the group.
“Members of our support group invite family, friends, neighbours. Anybody can come. I’m going to play poker at the Legion and I’m going to invite everybody there,” he says.
“Last year we had people who had read about it in the paper and heard about it on the radio and it was only a few people but you’ve gotta start somewhere.”
Musical entertainment provided by Sweet Chariot featuring Lydia McLelland will be on site and Konrad says T-shirts and door prizes will be available for attendees.
“It’s not a long walk by any means,” says Konrad. “One of our members called it the super saunter.”
He says doing the walk is not mandatory.
“You don’t have to walk because we have a couple members who obviously can’t do that, so it’s a gathering.”
Konrad says that in addition to raising awareness about Parkinson’s, they’re hoping to celebrate rain.
“Normally, we don’t want rain for a SuperWalk but if it’s raining, I’ll be laughing while I make my one-minute speech,” he says.
“Hopefully people show up and bring umbrellas.”
Registration for the event starts at 1 p.m. in Centennial Park at the Cedar Avenue entrance. The walk starts at 1:30 p.m. For more information, contact Konrad at 250-395-3925.
