For the fourth year in a row hundreds of people are expected to run, walk and bike around Jasper wearing feather boas and other bright attire to raise awareness and funds for mental health.
May 13 marks the fourth annual鈥攖hird official鈥擩9 Sparkle Run in memory of Jeanine D鈥橝ntonio.
D鈥橝ntonio, who was an active community volunteer and educator known for her unmatched enthusiasm and love for life, lost her battle with depression April 16, 2014.
Her illness and death came as a shock to many and left the community questioning how someone like her could succumb to an illness so seemingly unbefitting of her personality and lust for life.
Shortly after Jeanine鈥檚 passing, her friend Tracy McKay came up with the sparkle run as an opportunity to celebrate Jeanine鈥檚 life and capture her contagious spirit of fun鈥攁s well as her love for sparkles and boas. At first it was just supposed to be for a few of Jeanine鈥檚 running partners, but, before long, word had spread and 70 people had shown up, all in off-the-wall get-ups.
鈥淛eanine D鈥橝ntonio, who is the namesake of the run, was a really sparkly person,鈥� said Lourdes Nunes, one of Jeanine鈥檚 close friends. 鈥淪he loved to wear feather boas and she loved to wear loud fun outfits so to commemorate her and open up the conversation about mental health we wanted to bring something positive to it.鈥�
In 2015, the event was formalized and more than 200 Jasperites dressed up to run, walk or bike a five-kilometre loop around town, both in memory of Jeanine and to raise awareness about the pervasiveness of mental illness and to put an end to the stigma that surrounds it.
鈥淭he whole idea is to just get everybody out to have fun and dress up in their craziest outfits,鈥� said Nunes. 鈥淎 big thing that we found is that by dressing up fun and having feather boas and adding sparkles it really draws a lot of attention from people from around town and it opens up the conversation.鈥�
Jeanine鈥檚 mother, Ulla, is expected to participate in the event this year.
It will begin and end at Centennial Field with check in between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. The event will get underway at 4 p.m. sharp.
Following the run there will be an after party held at the log cabin at Centennial Field with a barbecue. Organizers are still looking for volunteers to help with the event.
To register for the race visit: www.J9sparkle.com. It costs $20 for adults and children and youth are free. The first 50 people who sign up also get a free boa.
With files from Nicole Veerman
Paul Clarke
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