Purple Party smaller but successful
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 21 hours, 13 minutes AGO
Participants make their way through Moses Lake at a previous Walk to End Alzheimer's. This year's Purple Party, which is a pre-party to the Walk, raised more than $700 and fielded at least a dozen teams for this year's Walk, which is Sept. 19.
FILE PHOTO
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | August 5, 2026 3:00 AM
MOSES LAKE — There were about 50 fewer people at the Purple Party July 16 than came last year, but those people accomplished a lot.
“I don’t feel as though there was quite the participation we had last year,” said Karisti Cox, living sales specialist at Brookdale Hearthstone, which hosted the event. “However, the people who were there, were there with the intention to build their teams and do the fundraising. So while there weren’t as many people, we actually did better.”
The Purple Party is sort of a pre-party for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. The primary purpose is to prepare for the Walk, which raises money for dementia research, by organizing teams and making plans, but the event also raises funds in its own right. The Purple Party July 16 raised $770 in just two hours, Cox said.
The money came from raffles that featured prizes donated by local businesses, but even more from the sale of repurposed and painted cowboy boots that can be turned into planters or other decorations. The residents at Brookdale Hearthstone created the boot art themselves, Cox said.
“What was really special was that it was done by the people that (Alzheimer’s) truly affects,” Cox said. “The older generation are the ones most apt to be dealing with it. It was spectacular that the residents decorated the boots and put the flowers in.”
The Alzheimer’s Association website listed 67 teams for this year’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s, although only 12 of those had any funds raised yet.
The Walk to End Alzheimer’s will take place Sept. 19 at the Centennial Amphitheater at McCosh Park in Moses Lake, according to the Alzheimer’s Association website.
The Purple Party was a group effort, Cox said, drawing participants not only from Brookdale Hearthstone but from other senior living facilities, including Avamere, Monroe House and LakeRidge.
“I feel like this is one of the common denominators that break the walls of competition,” Cox said. “We realize we’re taking care of our community and the seniors within that community, and it brings us together as a family. We’re all in this together.”
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