The Sylvan Lake Lighthouse will shine blue on Thursday, April 11 for World Parkinson’s Day as part of the global Spark the Night initiative.
For the initiative, over 300 significant landmarks worldwide including the Sears Tower and the Empire State Building will be lit blue as a symbol of hope in solidarity with the Parkinson’s community.
Getting in touch with the Town of Sylvan Lake to ask to have the lighthouse shine blue was easy, creator of PD Avengers Larry Gifford said.
“I just emailed the Mayor’s office and asked them to do it.”
While there will be bigger landmarks and communities taking part in the event, it is tremendously important to get the small towns lit up as well, Gifford said.
“In small towns is where the conversation happens. People actually get the work done in our communities and we have a saying in PD Avengers to think global and act local.”
PD Avengers is a group that was first created during the COVID pandemic as a response to a book called Ending Parkinson’s Disease.
“The book was a call to action,” Gifford said.
Gifford has been living with Parkinson’s since 2017 when he was diagnosed with the disease at the age of 45.
As for why the event is called Spark the Night, one of the reasons is because the symptoms people experience during the day and the night are vastly different, Gifford said.
“On the website worldparkinsonsnight.com, you can learn about night symptoms and other things.”
Starting conversations about Parkinson’s and learning more is very important, he added.
“Parkinson’s disease affects 10 million people worldwide and it can affect you tomorrow. It doesn’t matter how old you are or if you are a man or a woman.”
For interested individuals, a survey is available to fill out for people with Parkinson’s.
“We want to make a difference,” Gifford said.
More information about Spark the Night, insight into Parkinson’s, and a link to the PDF are available on the PD Avengers website, pdavengers.com.