After a year of remote celebrations, online classes and virtual showcases Zumix is planning to be back in-person for its annual Zumix Walk for Music fundraiser scheduled for Sunday, July 11 at 4 p.m.
The annual fundraiser was remote last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic but this year, just as Zumix celebrates 30 years in the community, the fun-filled event will return to the Mary Ellen Welch Greenway for the walk and end in Piers Park with live music.
“We’re super excited,” said Zumix Co-Founder and Executive Director Madeleine Steczynski. “This is our 30th anniversary so we are excited to be celebrating that but we’re equally excited to be welcoming people back into our physical space as more restrictions are lifted and host the first in-person Walk for Music since the pandemic.”
The Walk for Music will kickoff at the Zumix Firehouse on Sumner Street on July 11 at 4 p.m. and make its way through the Mary Ellen Welch Greenway and end with a concert in Piers Park featuring Zumix youth bands as well as Zumix board member Steve Snyder’s Don’t Be Denied Band.
“The event will also be a way for us to kick off our Summer Music Concert Series at Piers Park,” said Steczynski. “We want to welcome music back and the Walk for Music is going to really be our first day of building community on a grander scale as we come out of the pandemic. Last year we really didn’t know how the virtual event would go but it was a tremendous success. This year’s Walk for Music is going to be the first sort of big event of trying to get people back together in physical space together. We really are hoping that people feel comfortable enough to come out because the whole event will be outdoors.”
Steczynski said Zumix has set a goal for the annual fundraiser of $60,000 and has raised north of $17,500 so far and donations can be made at https://secure.frontstream.com/walk-for-music-2021.
With the Walk for Music coming on the heels of Zumix receiving a generous $1 million gift from McKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett’s foundation, Steczynski said donors need to know the endowment is to ensure long term success and stability for Zumix and the Walk for Music raises money for the popular music program’s day to day operations and programs.
“It’s kind of ironic because we just got that big beautiful gift but that beautiful big gift is really about long term stability of the organization, not day to day operations of the organization,” said Steczynski. “So that’s really important for us to message and let people know that we still need to fundraise and we really would have never gotten that gift if we didn’t have the support of our community. Even if it’s $10 it means a lot to us and it does provide the ongoing regular support that we need to be able to operate.”
In the end, Steczynski just hopes the Zumix can do their part in the community to begin the process of healing after a tough 15 months of uncertainty. “It’s a little exciting for us to get people back together,” she said. “We want to be able to say hello to people we haven’t seen throughout this past year, play some music together and dance together…just those things are huge for us. It’s been a long year and we hope to have some fun and