With the support of the Massachusetts Cultural Council LCC grant program and donors to the group’s GoFundMe campaign, local musicians Mark Mandeville and Raianne Richards will once again traverse Massachusetts on foot for their 7th Annual Massachusetts Walking Tour. The tour will run June 12 – June 28, starting in North Truro and landing in Swansea, and will cover over 100 miles. As part of the National Park Service “Healthy Parks Healthy People” initiative and the MA Libraries “Get Moving” Summer Reading program, the public is encouraged to join in the daily hikes and to walk or bike to the events with all routes available for PDF download at www.masswalkingtour.org.
Stops in Cape Cod towns and along the Cape Cod Rail Trail include the Highland House Museum in Truro, Wellfleet Public Library, Salt Pond Visitors Center of Cape Cod National Seashore in Eastham, \Nickerson State Park, Cape Conservatory in West Barnstable, Shawme-Crowell State Forest in Sandwich and Myles Standish State Forest Centennial Celebration in Carver, as well as stops along the South Coast Bikeway (www.southcoastbikeway.com) including the First Congregational Church in Wareham, Island Wharf Bandstand in Marion, Mattapoisett Congregational Church, Millicent Library Auditorium in Fairhaven, Dartmouth YMCA, New Bedford Art Museum/Artworks! and UMASS Dartmouth Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Fall River and the Swansea Public Library with more to come.
On Thursday June 23 from 4:00 – 6:00 pm sign up for Mattapoisett Free Public Library’s Summer Reading Program, “On Your Mark, Get Set, Read!,” and enjoy FREE crafts, games, activities and raffle prizes! The concert starts at 6:00 pm and will feature music from local artists Jackson Gillman, Jeff Angeley, Joan Akin, and Mary Beth Soares as well as music from the MA Walking Tour Band who are hiking and performing concerts in towns along Cape Cod and the South Coast Bikeway.
The concert tour features the music of Mandeville and Richards as well as Berklee College of Music alumni Amy Alvey and Mark Kilianski (Boston-based duo Hoot and Holler) with arrangements on guitar, banjo, harmonica, tin whistle, ukulele and fiddle accompanied by a brief talk on the philosophy behind the Walking Tour. After each day’s hike, the troupe will perform free community concerts in towns along the Cape Cod Rail Trail, Myles Standish State Forest and towns along the South Coast Bikeway. Each two-hour program will include local musicians and artists from each town while promoting community-based cultural organizations and local support for the arts. Posters for the events are hand drawn and designed by visual artist and musician Dan Blakeslee.
The Massachusetts Walking Tour sets forth on a grass roots level to organize local artists together with community-based organizations such as land conservation groups, hikers, nature lovers, musicians, artists and local cultural councils statewide. These concerts are conducted in outright support for community-based arts events sponsored on the local level.
For a full list of concert dates, day by day hiking routes, to make donations, or for more information about the 7th Annual Massachusetts Walking Tour, visit www.masswalkingtour.org