Port Townsend: AIDS walk draws crowd, helps battle

PORT TOWNSEND — Carrying signs with red ribbons, 100 men, women and children marched through the streets, raising awareness of the disease and more than $6,000 for local AIDS patients.

“We’re taking the walk out onto the street this year,” said Mimi Rosenberg, a member of Jefferson AIDS Services, which organizes the annual event.

In previous years, walkers have been relegated to the sidewalk.

This year, with the help of police volunteers Bill Erickson, Randall Goldsmith and Don Marseille, they made a two-mile loop on uptown and downtown streets before returning to Chetzemoka Park.

Among the walkers was Gisela Loch, who raised $1,159 in pledges for Jefferson AIDS Services, the largest amount of any individual in the history of the event, according to Mark Gordon, registrar.