While some school fetes rely on cake stalls, chocolate wheels, fairyfloss and fireworks, Blaxland Public School is pulling out the big guns next month with the first Mountains appearance of the Paper Planes pilots.
The school has been in the grips of Paper Planes mania since the film screened at Glenbrook Cinema earlier this year. That’s when fete organiser Anne Palmer thought of writing to the films stars, Dylan Parker and James Norton, to ask them to visit.
The duo will come to the school in “Top Gun uniforms”, said Ms Palmer, actual outfits with insignia supplied by the Australian Air Force.
“It’s the first Mountains school so hopefully it creates a bit of Paper Planes panic,” Mr Parker, 27, said laughing.
When he spoke to the Gazette last Friday, Mr Parker admitted he was on his first day as a full-time paper plane pilot, after throwing in his job as a marketing specialist. He will bring a range of planes along (they sit in cushioned compartments of his suitcase) with eclectic titles like the Manta Ray, Horn-Rim, Raptor, Dog and Clive.
The hit movie Paper Planes was inspired by an ABC TV Australian Story episode about the life of Parker and Norton, who met at Canberra University in 2008 and competed in the World Paper Plane Championships in Austria. It also detailed Parker’s successful battle with a brain tumour along the way.
Mr Parker said he still hopes to eventually beat the current world record for longest paper plane thrown, a distance of almost 70 metres held by a former US quarterback. He is working on a “top secret” plane model.
Dylan Parker and James Norton will run workshops and competitions from 4.30 to 6.30pm at the Blaxland Public School Twilight Fete and Fireworks event on Saturday May 16.
Ms Palmer said she expected the school’s paper plane airport to be extremely busy with both children and adults taking part.
“Everyone will get to meet them and join in the fun... but I haven’t got enough prizes for the dads,” she joked.
Mr Parker said paper planes were a great leveller. “When the planes come out, everyone’s a kid.”
The school’s first fete has been 11 months in the making and kicks off at the school on Baden Place at 4pm and ends at 8pm.
The Paper Planes workshops and fireworks are included in the entry price.Tickets are $20 for a family at the gate (prepaid $15 from the school office), or adults $10, child/concession $5. The school will host all the usual fete attractions and all funds go to much needed playground equipment.
