COEUR d'ALENE - One regular "squirrel" from North Idaho is on an epic journey to becoming a creature of flight.

This dream will come to fruition Saturday, when Brandon Beveridge of Newman Lake dons a squirrel suit and climbs onto a homemade aircraft. His teammates, while dressed in flying squirrel suits, will propel him from a platform above the Willamette River in Portland, proving that even regular "squirrels" can fly.

"The rest of us in the skit are flying squirrels, but Brandon can't fly, he's just a regular squirrel," Flying Squirrel teammate Cheri Degerness said Monday. "We're going to help him fly, one way or the other."

The team - eight creative individuals from North Idaho and eastern Washington, aka the Flying Squirrels.

Their craft - a giant, 80-pound version of world-renowned BASE jumper Miles Daisher in a blue wingsuit made of wood, metal and styrofoam, with large foam hands and paper mache helmet.

The event - the 2015 Red Bull Portland Flugtag, a huge international event that celebrates human ingenuity, the joy of creativity and the wonder of flight.

"For me, Flugtag is about learning the art of flight and jumping off a 28-foot flight deck," Beveridge said in the introduction to the team's YouTube video.

"It's going to be nuts," said Flying Squirrel team manager Bryce Rich.

The Flying Squirrels are the only team from Idaho that will be competing in the Portland Flugtag, which draws thousands of spectators. About 400 teams applied and only 42 were selected to participate.

"It's an honor to be chosen, first of all," said Degerness, of Spokane. "Bryce and I put together a diorama. He was the brains behind that. It was really cute. We shipped it to (Red Bull) and they loved it so they picked us to be part of it. We're very excited. It's going to be fun."

Most of the Squirrels work at Hayden Beverage Distributors, so entering the Red Bull Flugtag was a natural choice for a team of coworkers who distribute the popular energy drink.

"It's exciting," Rich said. "We always designed this as a team-building initiative. Not only is it bonding, but it really shows you people's strengths and weaknesses ... that's why we're sponsored by the company, because it is good for our team and gets everybody involved, gets everyone a trip to Portland and it really teaches people how to work together."

The Flugtag, which is German for "flight day," welcomes all kinds of ideas when it comes to human-powered flying machines, from giant hamburgers and geese to pirate ships and oversized paper airplanes. More than 100 Flugtags have taken place around the globe since the inaugural event in Vienna, Austria, in 1992.

Flugtag teams are judged on creativity and showmanship just as much as they are the distance their crafts can soar across the river from the platform. The Flying Squirrels are motivated to excel in all categories, especially when it comes to having fun.

Rich said he expects the competition to include some serious world record contenders and people with crafts that look as though they were engineered by NASA.

"That doesn't mean that they're going to win. It's not a hang glider competition," he said. "That's not really the spirit of Flugtag. The creativity of your idea and the energy of your team is what will help win this."

The team is in crunch mode and will be putting on finishing touches this week until it leaves Friday for the big event. Other Flying Squirrels: Gabriel Rodriguez, Andrew Zyph, Jordan Hoffman, T.J. Sneva and Robbie Andrews.

For information, to watch their video or to cast your vote for the Flying Squirrels in the 2015 Red Bull Portland Flugtag people's choice award contest, visit www.redbullflugtag.com/usa-portland/en.