7th Annual Massachusetts Walking Tour brings free community concerts along the Cape Cod Rail Trail and South Coast Bikeway

Jun 14, 2016

Local musicians Mark Mandeville and Raianne Richards will traverse Massachusetts on foot for their 7th Annual Massachusetts Walking Tour, thanks to funding from the Massachusetts Cultural Council LCC grant program and the group's Go Fund Me campaign donors.

The group will be performing at the Dartmouth YMCA, at 276 Gulf Road, on Saturday, June 25, 6-8 p.m.

The concert is sponsored by the Dartmouth Cultural Council and the Dartmouth YMCA and Community Farm. It will feature local musician Mike Heffernan as well as a performance by the MA Walking Tour ensemble.

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 2 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 tour will run June 12-28 starting in North Truro and landing in Swansea covering 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. Download a PDF of the route at 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.

Stops along the South Coast Bikeway include 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.

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.