Walnut Creek Walk to End Alzheimer’s 2017

5:30am is an early call-time for a gig – these sure ain’t rock n roll hours! But for a cause as worthy as finding a cure for Alzheimer’s, the Drop Daddies are in. This was our 4th year participating in the Walnut Creek Walk to End Alzheimer’s , and it was an honor to be invited. They were expecting a record turnout of thousands, and raised over half a million dollars for Alzheimer’s research.

We started off the morning at 8am with a short 30 minute set of live music. It was about 45 degrees and we were playing with icy fingers and singing with puffs of foggy breath.

Then, Paul Deanno (chief meteorologist at CBS) kicked off the program – he is always such an inspirational and inspired speaker. Renee Morgan, the Mayor of Danville, also gave a moving speech.

The flower ceremony is always very emotional as the crowd raises their colorful flowers over swelling music and Paul’s poignant script. The flower colors represent each individual’s reason for being there- purple for those who’ve lost someone to Alzheimer’s, yellow for carers, blue for those suffering from Alzheimer’s, and orange for general supporters. New for this year, the ceremony included a single white flower held with a baby on stage as a symbol of hope for a future survivor of Alzheimer’s.

Kelsey Cardamone (this year’s Miss Sierra Nevada) led the walkers in a quick warm-up. And then the walkers were off!

We played throughout the walk to energize the participants with some rock n roll, and entertained them as they arrived back to the stage area.

In addition to our live music, we managed all the audio throughout the event- announcements, background music and other sound cues- and assisted wherever we could. In spite of the crazy hours, we were so honored to be part of such a great event for this important cause.