Down Syndrome Buddy Walk set for Sept. 27

MOSES LAKE — This year’s Buddy Walk will honor some people who don’t get much publicity: siblings of people with Down syndrome. 

“We’ve done parents and caregivers, so we decided it needed to be siblings this year,” said organizer Denise Ketola. 

Three people who have brothers or sisters with Down syndrome will be featured speakers, she said, all of them different ages.  

This is the 13th Buddy Walk in Moses Lake, hosted by the Down Syndrome Society of Grant County. About 400-450 people came to last year’s event, Ketola said. There will be booths from local businesses and organizations with activities for the young and young at heart, and a raffle with prizes that include at least one three-wheeled bike. 

This year’s theme is tropical, Ketola said. The T-shirts will have a tropical theme and she’s making pulled pork with tropical fruit to serve up as well. 

Before the walk through downtown Moses Lake, the event will feature dancing on the stage at Centennial Amphitheater and a medallion ceremony honoring all the individuals with Down syndrome. 

The Buddy Walk is sometimes the only event people with Down syndrome attend during the year, Ketola said, but the DSSGC holds other events through the year as well. There’s a pumpkin patch visit planned for October, and a celebratory dinner March 21, which is World Down Syndrome Day. The date 3/21 corresponds to the three 21st chromosomes that characterize Down syndrome, she explained. The DSSGC will  also have a table at the Autism Support Group of Grant County’s Autism Acceptance Community Day in Ephrata this Saturday, Ketola said. 

“We’re all about helping all the special needs groups,” Ketola said. 

Buddy Walk 

Moses Lake 

McCosh Park 

Sept. 27, 3 p.m. 

    Abigail Marick speaks at last year’s Buddy Walk.
  

    Dayton Delange rocks out on the stage at the Centennial Amphitheater at McCosh Park in Moses Lake Saturday before last year’s Down Syndrome Buddy Walk.