The second annual Purple Day Plane Pull for Epilepsy is being held March 23 and event organizers are calling for more teams to get involved in the action-packed day.
“We had 10 teams involved last year and we’d love to double it this year,” said event Committee Chair Catriona Johnson.
“It’s a super fun event for the whole family benefitting a good cause. People dress up and the team that raises the most money gets a wonderful prize — a catered dinner for five from Chef Castro Boateng.”
The idea for the event, which was started last year by the Victoria Epilepsy and Parkinsons Centre Society (VEPC), came from other organizations, mostly in the U.S. who were using plane pulls to raise money for causes.
“We thought ‘why not amalgamate this?’ because over the last few years Purple Day (for Epilepsy awareness) has grown. Now we’ve created some really neat partnerships through the plane pull event and Purple Day and we hope to do it every year,” said Johnson.
The events takes place at the Viscount Aero Centre near the Victoria Airport.
Along with the plane pull, the day will include demonstrations by seizure dogs, the drone planes from the University of Victoria on display, a flight simulator and a kids zone.
A raffle will also feature some great prizes, said Johnson, including raffle prizes for flights in Chinese fighter jets.
“We just want to get people involved to come out and try it,” she said.
“I mean, how often do you get to say ‘I got to pull a Second World War bomber plane — that’s pretty neat.”
Teams can register at www.victoriaplanepull.ca. Online registration closes on March 21 at 4 p.m. For more information on the VEPC, visit www.vepc.bc.ca.