Urban Triage will host its fourth annual Summer Kickback event, a free event to celebrate the community, at Penn Park, 2101 Fisher St, on Saturday, July 20, 2-7 p.m.
“One thing I heard from folks about this event is that they feel like it’s a family reunion and that they had the opportunity to see people that they haven’t seen in years and sometimes decades,” Brandi Grayson, founder and CEO of Urban Triage, tells Madison365. “Sometimes we can live within the same city and still feel miles apart. So I think that’s what’s grown with our kickback event is the feeling of community and how it’s like a family reunion. It just feels really genuine, authentic and unlimited.”
Urban Triage’s mission is to transform culture, institutions, and communities to ensure a humane future. The Madison non-profit organization serves community members throughout Dane County, providing various resources, including housing support, resource linkage, advocacy, youth housing and supportive services, community engagement events & outreach, and environmental justice education. 
The annual kickback event will feature resource booths, vendors, free food carts, ice cream, cotton candy, popcorn, and more. There will be free organic produce from Urban Traige’s farm which provides community members with 3,000 to 5,000 pounds of produce annually for free. Attendees will have the chance to win gift cards and other prizes.
“This will be our first year having an entertainment tent, too, so we are excited about that,” Grayson says. “Under this tent, we will provide a VIP service to all elders. So we’ll have staff and volunteers use golf carts to move them around the park for accessibility. We’ll also have staff assigned to them to get their food and to get their water. Underneath this tent, they’ll have bingo, and performances by No Boundaries Dance Team and Chakari [Daezhare], a local singer.
“So the entertainment tent really is focused on folks who want to be in the community, enjoying the scenery, enjoying the joy, but doesn’t necessarily have the capability to move around the park,” Grayson adds.
The event will also have 2-3 deejays and a deejay battle along with bouncy houses, Double Dutch competitions, bubble performances, face painting, characters, 360 video booths, and more.
“The whole point of this is to give back to our community, and to showcase how we can have large, peaceful community events,” Grayson says. “This is our fourth time doing it. We’ve attracted thousands of people to our event and we’ve never had an issue ever. It’s a diverse crowd … a lot of professionals, elders, a lot of children, very much family-focused. Lots of vendors and resources for the community.”
Most Urban Triage events are grassroots events and the summer kickback is no exception.
“We do most of our outreach in the community, like literally going into the community handing out flyers two months prior,” Grayson says. “I think when we think about the growth of the event, it is really a reflection of the time people have … they really do have a good time. And people are often coming up to us and sending emails that they are looking forward to next year. There’s just a lot of joy and a lot of opportunity to connect.
“And I think it’s important to have a space where children who are often vulnerable get to have all they want. You get as much cotton candy as you want. You get as much popcorn as you want. You can keep going back and getting food. It’s not, like, restricted,” Grayson continues. “It’s like, have a time of your life. And that’s exactly what people do: they have the time of their life. And it’s something from all age groups, too, which is also nice, even for the adults.”
The kickback is also a chance to learn more about Urban Triage and all of the great work they do in the community. “All of our staff will be there — you’ll be able to identify our staff with their T-shirts — so you get a chance to meet all of our staff and hang out with them,” Grayson says. “And we’ll have an information stand, and, of course, we’ll have our [Urban Triage] produce stand, because we love to give out organic produce from our farm. So we’ll have unlimited produce for folks to take home from us and other farmers who have donated produce.”
It’s going to be a day filled with family fun, socializing, and networking. Urban Triage does still need volunteers for the event.
“My favorite part of the event is the kids. They just are so happy and to see them running around unbothered and unworried … just having fun,” Grayson says. “It’s seeing the joy in our community that this event brings that really makes all the hard work worthwhile.”
