About 20 people were pied in the face Thursday night, and it was all for the kids.
Dance Marathon hosted a kickoff celebration on Flavet Field Thursday evening. Attendees paid for two hours worth of dinner, music and shoving pie in people’s faces.
Dance Marathon staff sold about 1,000 tickets, and all proceeds will be added to the annual event’s donations, said spokesman Eden Joyner.
Dance Marathon at UF raises money for the Children’s Miracle Network at Shands Hospital. Participants ask for donations, and they stand for 26.2 hours.
This year, participants will stand from 11:48 a.m. on March 31 to 2:08 p.m on April 1 at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center, said Joyner, a 22-year-old public relations and political science senior.
Garrett Chappell, a 20-year-old advertising junior, was pied in the face by Brandon Corsentino, a 20-year-old marketing sophomore. Corsentino works on the Dance Marathon marketing team under Chappell, the marketing director.
“I do it all for the kids,” Chappell said.
The kickoff was supposed to end with Overall Director Alex Spratt lighting a 2-and-a-half foot tall electronic candle. However, Joyner said that because people left and the sky was still light, the candle will be lit at the opening ceremonies March 31.
Spratt spoke to the crowd about when a child leaves the hospital and cuts off his or her hospital band. Attendees were given bands to to wear until Dance Marathon.
Twenty-one-year-old finance junior Lindsay Taylor, a community events captain, said she will keep her band on throughout Dance Marathon.
“It signifies what the miracle children go through while they’re in the hospital,” she said.
Contact Samantha Shavell at sshavell@alligator.org.
Brandon Corsentino, a 20-year-old marketing sophomore, pies Garrett Chappell, a 20-year-old advertising junior, at the Dance Marathon kickoff event on Flavet Field on Thursday.
