The Return of the Down Syndrome Community of Puget Sound Buddy Walk

After several years of either no Buddy Walk or a much reduced version of the Walk due to Covid fears, this year the Down Syndrome Community of Puget Sound was able to bring the Buddy Walk back.  This was a very welcome return, since this is the largest yearly event put on by the Down Syndrome Community, attracting hundreds of participants.  Plus if just put a nice exclamation point into the end of the pandemic fears that had kept the walk from really happening for the past two years.

I have been the lead photographer at this event for more than twenty years, and have watched it grow from a fairly small event of maybe a couple hundred local people to an event that draws family and friends of Down Syndrome individuals from all over the Puget Sound area and beyond.  For years the Walk was held at the Seattle Center, but as the event became better known and more and more participants showed up, a larger venue was needed.  Fortunately the Woodland Park Zoo agreed to allow the walk; the Zoo is not only an amazing and beautiful place, it is also much larger than the Seattle Center so we have room for many more people to join the fun.

The numbers were still not nearly what we saw in 2019, when the Walk was last held at the Zoo, but it was several times larger than the smaller version of the Walk that was held in 2021 at Downtown Bellevue Park, in spite of the prevailing Covid fears.  It was a lot of fun to see everyone out cheering on the Walkers with their families and friends.  I especially enjoy being able to see many of the Walkers who I have now known for years as they have grown up.

Please check out the selection of photos below.  You can see a lot more photos of other events at my blog page at Tom Ellis Photography.