Volunteers stretched a purple streamer finish line taut for the first participants of the walk to break through in celebration of their hard work and support for the Alzheimer's Association.

TIFTON — Residents of Tiftarea marched together this past weekend not only in honor of loved ones stricken with Alzheimer’s disease, but in pursuit of a common goal: the day that ailment would have a cure.

Those people joined thousands across the country in their local branch of the Alzheimer’s Association’s fundraising event Walk to End Alzheimer’s Oct. 14, raising over $31,000 to support victims of the disease and their caregivers as well as fund research into ending Alzheimer’s entirely.

Unlike previous years of walking around the track at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, this year’s walk was held in the heart of the city, bringing participants walking down the streets of Downtown Tifton in support of their cause.

“We wanted to bring it out into the community, to make it a little more visible and let everybody see what was going on,” said Chrystal Bell, walk manager for the event.

The walk began behind the Tifton-Tift County Public Library, dreary skies above and a light drizzle on the wind, but people of all ages and walks of life stood before the starting line eager for the event to come.

Some walked in support of their family and loved ones, others in memory of them, but everyone in attendance was united in the common cause of fighting Alzheimer’s.

“The illness itself is just…there’s so much unknown, which is why all of this is so important,” said Tanya Payne of Traditions Health, who was walking alongside fifteen of her associates. “It allows for them to keep exploring for a cure.”

In the event’s opening ceremony, Madison Foglio of WALB reminded the participants that more than six million U.S. citizens suffered from Alzheimer’s, over 150,000 of which lived in Georgia, and that even more worked to provide for these Alzheimer’s victims. She asserted that one day they would see the disease beaten, that a cure would be found to help all those people, and encouraged all in attendance to keep fighting for that day.

She also thanked the event’s sponsors–both national backers like Edward Jones and local supporters Walmart Pharmacy, Quality Employment, Tift County Lanes, South Georgia Banking Company, Cypress Pond, Maple Court, and Holley Transport–as well as each and every participant and volunteer at the walk for supporting the cause in their own ways.

Speaking on behalf of Edward Jones, Alec Joiner, financial advisor for the investment firm and chair of the Walk to End Alzheimer’s Committee, reported that they were investing a good deal of time, effort, and money into fighting the disease, supporting the Alzheimer’s Association at a national level with donations, sponsorships, and walkers and volunteers across the country.

Before the stage, a garden of flower pinwheels twirled in the morning breeze, the colors on display reminding the participants what they were walking for.

A handful of the attendees were invited onstage to hold their flowers high, explaining the symbolism of each color of the flower: orange for supporting the cause of the Alzheimer’s Association, purple for the remembrance of those lost to the disease, yellow for the support of someone with it, and blue for those struggling with Alzheimer’s themselves.

As Foglio encouraged their audience to raise their own flowers in solidarity, a new pinwheel was added to the ensemble onstage: a white flower, expressing the hope that one day they would come together to celebrate survivors of the debilitating disease, and that in turn, that white flower would join the other colors in the garden.

“Alzheimer’s is destroying our families,” Foglio said. “It’s destroying our lives, our memories of our loved ones, and our finances, our futures, our dreams. I think it’s time to end it–wouldn’t you?”

From there, the participants began their walk, heading down Love Avenue and crisscrossing 3rd, 2nd, and 1st St, taking the walkers on a tour throughout Downtown Tifton and past many of the supporting businesses in the community.

Volunteers from ABAC’s Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity and Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority, ABAC Ambassadors, and Tift County High School’s HOSA students cheered them on at various points along the route

Alpha Gamma Rho provides extensive support to the Alzheimer’s Association outside of this event as well, having done so for twelve years. In addition to their volunteering for the walk, their annual barrel race raised over $5,000 for the cause.

The walkers’ journey came to an end at Tifton Gardens, where a purple streamer finish line awaited them alongside a small gathering of local businesses and organizations, showing both their support of the Walk to End Alzheimer’s and participation in the city’s Second Saturday festivities.

Indeed, the afternoon celebration on behalf of Downtown Tifton served as a congratulations of sorts for the participants of the event, inviting them to enjoy lunch from local food trucks or an auto show from Tiftarea Auto Club in Cato Knight Parking Lot, celebrate with a photo session courtesy of South Georgia Banking Company, or watch a martial arts demonstration from ATA Tifton.

Organizers for the walk, including Bell and Joiner, were satisfied with the results, especially given the change of locale and unsatisfactory weather. They expressed an interest in making the city downtown the new home for Tifton’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s, and were eager to plan the next run in tandem with the city’s Second Saturday as well.