D-UP event returns to Washington Street

Guy Lucas, The High Point Enterprise, N.C.
·2 min read

Jul. 28—HIGH POINT — An annual celebration of youth, artistic expression and the Washington Street community had barely begun to hit its stride when the COVID-19 pandemic halted work on what would have been the sixth event in 2020.

So now Jakki Davis is eager to see the sixth Let's Move to Music finally take place this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Washington Street headquarters of D-UP, a nonprofit youth education and fitness organization that provides fun and structured activities promoting healthy and productive lifestyles.

The free event allows children in grades K-10 taking part in D-UP's six-week Washington Street Enrichment Program demonstrate what they learned over the summer, including dance, cheerleading, singing, rapping, storytelling and speed art, said Davis, D-UP's executive director. New activities added this year are ballet, mime and African drumming.

But the event is more than that, with festival elements such as food vendors and family activities such as making pinwheels and scented soap, Davis said. Everything is free except concessions, which help support the enrichment program.

Music is at the heart of "Let's Move to Music," but the event ultimately is intended to bring families together and build community pride, she said.

"The idea is that music is that power that just reaches the soul of everyone," she said, and it connects to much of the Washington Street area's heritage, including the nearby John Coltrane childhood home and the Penn-Griffin School of the Arts. "The culture of the street is the arts."

D-UP's summer enrichment program took place entirely online in 2020 as the first summer wave of COVID infections grew. The 2021 summer program resumed in person but with fewer children as a precaution, and this year the program maintained the smaller number of participants — 35 instead of about 50.

Although in recent weeks the number of COVID cases has grown, organizers felt comfortable resuming the event because it takes place outdoors, with lots of room for families to spread out, Davis said.

"We're feeling really safe about having it," she said.