Above, Team Clover Open has long been one of the most popular pre-LifeWalk team events. Now it is one of the major events in the Summer of LifeWalk. (Photo courtesy of Prism Health North Texas).
Events that have been gone for two years are back, and it’s great to see them return. But the pandemic provided a lot of time to rethink some events, and LifeWalk is one of them. The Prism Health North Texas fundraiser, which for years has been a 5k walk/run for charity, is definitely coming back, but it’s coming back in a new format, organizers have announced.
The Summer of LifeWalk is a series of events that continue the 32-year tradition of raising money for the area’s largest HIV-care provider as well as a group of partners. It’s just raising that money now in different ways
Until now, LifeWalk was a 5k walk, usually through Oak Lawn and Uptown. For several years, the walk was routed through downtown and even included a detour through Neiman Marcus. But this year, Prism Health hopes to reach more of the community with its new multi-event format.
The Summer of LifeWalk kicks off with Marketpalooza & Pub Crawl. The event begins on June 19 at 11 a.m. in the Caven parking lot behind 4001 Cedar Springs Road. Marketpalooza will feature 30 local vendors and artisans selling their wares, PHNTX staff offering resources to attendees and a DJ providing the music.
Once attendees have shopped, they can use their Pub Crawl passports at participating bars and restaurants along the strip, visiting stations operated by different Prism Health departments. Participants will be entered into drawings for gift cards, a hotel stay and round-trip airfare.
Then participants are encouraged to enter a number of events organized by both longtime and newly-minted LifeWalk teams and to volunteer during the Gay Softball World Series that Dallas will host later in the summer.
“We look forward to seeing familiar faces and a lot of new ones too on LifeWalk teams at these events,” Prism Health Event Manager Terry Walker said. “We encourage our attendees to sign up for fundraising as a team with friends or coworkers.”
On July 9, LifeWalk Brunch begins at 11 a.m. at Roy G’s, 4001 Cedar Springs Road. Then the annual Team Clover Open takes place along the Strip on Aug. 20.
The Summer of LifeWalk concludes with the annual Miss LifeWalk pageant on Sept 25 in the Rose Room. Along with announcing the 17th Miss LifeWalk, the top fundraiser of the season will be announced during that pageant.
— from staff reports