Colours will fly at Royal Roads University and runners at the Splash of Color Easter Seals fundraiser are bound to get a little dirty.
The event is inspired by the Holi celebration in India – a traditional spring festival of colours. On the West Shore the summertime Splash of Color will be Aug. 25.
Each of five colour stations along the four-kilometre course at Royal Roads University will shower participants in a different colour.
“As people run or walk through a station they will get colour thrown on them,” said Shannon Bernays, director of Vancouver Island special events for Easter Seals. “It’s a dry splatter.”
At the end of the run the participants will be covered in pink, purple, green, blue and yellow. The coloured powders are manufactured in India and Easter Seal organizers purchased them from a Hare Krishna Temple in Utah.
“It’s essentially cornstarch with natural colours,” said Bernays.
Registration for the event is $40 and all participants will receive a T-shirt and sunglasses. Children six and younger are free, but if they want the T-shirt and sunglasses they must pay $40.
All the proceeds go Easter Seals Camp Shawinigan for children with mental, cognitive or physical disabilities. Each year 300 campers attend the week-long camps at $2,400 per child. Fundraisers, such as Splash of Colour cover the camping costs for the children, aside from a $100 registration fee.
“At the camp the kids get to focus on their abilities not their disabilities,” Bernays said. “They get to enjoy camp with their peers.”
Splash of Color is at Royal Roads University, 2005 Sooke Rd., and begins at 10 a.m.
For more information www.splashofcolor.ca