Couple pays it forward with park wedding

It started as an idea to have a wedding in the park with games and a run. Then it grew to include a variety of events and projects to support local charities.

Now it’s a 5K fun run, a wedding that others can share in by getting married themselves, live music, food, raffles and more.

If you know Nikki Emerson and Anthony Davalos, it’s not surprising that their wedding has turned into a community event.

“It got big really fast, but that’s good, that’s what we wanted,” Emerson said.

They wanted love to bring the community together and get people out, and it has, she said.

On the couple’s wedding site, Emerson wrote: “Our wedding run ‘Let’s run away together’ is our ultimate way of uniting our love by helping worthy community causes and encouraging others to share this moment with us and to be inspired by whatever brings you happiness.”

Both of them are involved with a number of local charities and are always willing to support fundraising efforts to help others. Davalos is an active-duty airman assigned to Malmstrom Air Force Base.

Now their house is packed with boxes of donations and craft projects as they prepare for their big day on Sept. 13 in Black Eagle Park.

They didn’t set fundraising or donations goals.

“We’re just raising whatever we can,” Davalos said.

They have a sock drive going now to collect socks for the Great Falls Rescue Mission, and a box is located at Old Navy. They also raised $375 to put together about 13 foster care bags, which are blue duffle bags with blankets, a stuffed animal, coloring book and crayons, toiletry kits and space for their things, Emerson said.

“We do foster care and usually they get a box or a trash bag with their stuff in it and that’s it,” Emerson said. “We want them to have normal bags.”

The big event also includes a 5K fun run from the park to the River’s Edge Trail down to Black Eagle Island and back.

The proceeds from the race go to the Young Parents Education Center, and for $75 couples can also get married with the couple. Of that fee, $30 goes to the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art.

The race also includes prizes for things like tackiest wedding runner, worst bridesmaid dress runner and more.

They’ll have live music from The Uproots, a band donating its time, and a band from Whitefish.

They’re have a local food vendor and an ice cream truck in the park and Veterans of Foreign War Post 1087 will serve drinks, and the couple is asking that friends and family who want to give a wedding gift donate to charity instead.

The couple also collected donated items from local and online vendors that will be raffled during the wedding event, and those funds will also be donated to local charities. The items include handmade items from Etsy sellers and a diamond necklace from Riddles Jewelry.

They’re still taking donations online and at the Old Navy collection box for socks.

Since it’s an outdoor event, they’re beholden to whatever Mother Nature has in store that day, but the event will go on.

“If it rains, I guess we’ll be playing in the rain,” Emerson said.

In June, the couple recruited about a dozen volunteers to spend a day in the park painting, fixing play equipment and sprucing up the park.

Their son, Kristian, painted a mural on one of the park buildings.

Davalos said they spent about six hours one day painting with the regular park volunteers.

“It definitely wouldn’t have gotten done if it was just us,” Davalos said.

They also challenged students at Sunnyside Elementary to do as many pay-it-forward deeds as they could, and two third-grade classes, with teachers Pat Stratton and Stephanie Halko, took the challenge to heart and completed 4,797 good deeds last spring.

At the end of the last school year, Emerson and Davalos treated the students to an ice cream party and listened to their good deeds. Cold Stone Creamery donated the ice cream for the students.

“When asked what they did, not one kid had to spend money to make someone smile,” Emerson said in June.

The students also did a coloring contest, and Emerson and Davalos are planning to deliver the drawings to local hospitals and assisted living facilities “to brighten more people’s days,” Emerson said. “Being kind doesn’t have a price tag but keeps giving.”

Their families are coming from out of town and the couple is hoping for a good turnout at the park event next weekend. They’re also looking for some volunteers to help set up starting at 11 a.m. on wedding day, general help during the event and tear down after the event.

To learn more

Want to volunteer at the community wedding in the park? Call Anthony Davalos at 564-2885.

To donate, get a ticket, register to get married or learn more, go to http://nikkiandanthony.wix.com/letsrunaway