It’s finally summertime, and over at GRIP, you know what that means – planning for our yearly Harmony Walk in the Park fall festival and fundraiser is in full swing! We are so excited to welcome everyone back to our usual spot at Nicholl Park for the event’s 40th anniversary. You read that right – the GRIP community has been putting on the Harmony Walk since 1986! While we’ve made some tweaks to the format of the event over the years, the goal has stayed the same – to spread the word about the inspiring work that GRIP does, spend time with our families in the beautiful fall weather, and bring in some extra financial support for GRIP’s day-to-day operations.
This year’s (completely free!) event will be held slightly later in the year than in past years. Since we’re hoping to beat some of the mid-autumn heat, as well as circumvent the wonderfully busy season of community events in Richmond in October, the Harmony Walk will be held on Saturday, November 7th at our usual time (10:00 am til 1:00 pm). Dan Noyes from the ABC7 KGO news team will be back this year as our event emcee. We’re also planning to welcome back many of our previous tabling groups for an even bigger show-out from our city’s amazing organizations, community-based resources, and small businesses. Of course, we’ll be raffling off bundles of goodies from local gems, and we anticipate that multiple food trucks will be in attendance. Guests can look forward to hearing from community leaders, elected officials, and GRIP partners during opening remarks. And, we’re especially looking forward to welcoming Victor Fuentes and his band Suitcase back for a second year to provide fabulous tunes all afternoon.
We are hoping to partner with schools to bring in plenty of little ones to enjoy our expanded kids’ zone, complete with face painting, train rides, games, a pumpkin patch, and more. Older kids in past years have also enjoyed getting PE credit from participating in the walk to the GRIP shelter and back! If you are a parent, student, teacher, or administration official interested in getting your school(s) connected to this event, please reach out to us!
Anyone who is interested in sponsoring the event, hosting a table or food truck, donating a raffle prize, volunteering, or helping out in any other way can reach out to Board member and event chair Jilly de la Torre at jilliandlt@gmail.com. We can’t wait to see you in November!
