ARLINGTON — Walkers and strollers of all ages and ability levels, some in wheelchairs, arrived at Legion Park Sept. 27 to help support Village Community Services through its seventh annual Friendship Walk & Car Wash.

Although event organizers are still adding up the money raised, VCS board member Vicki Adams reported that this year saw a larger turnout, and estimated that it yielded more donations in turn.

“We were blessed with great weather that Saturday,” said Adams, who praised members of the Arlington High School football program for volunteering their time and efforts, not only to help set up the event, but also to serve as traffic flaggers for walkers as they crossed busy streets. “We tried something a little different this year, by adding an obstacle course to the end of the route.”

Adams likewise expressed her appreciation to the Cenex Co-op Supply on Olympic Avenue for again hosting the car wash, which drew as many as 25 vehicles this year.

“It also worked out great that we were able to stage the Friendship Walk right next to the Farmers’ Market this year,” Adams said. “We’d never done that before, and I hope it continues.”

While the event started as a fundraiser for VCS’s Village Music & Arts program, including its Voices of the Village band, Adams touted the value of simply providing a festive venue for adults with developmental disabilities to interact with the community.

“We want to bridge that gap, so that other people won’t feel uncomfortable around us,” Adams said.

Program manager Michelle Dietz sees both the band and the event as complementary to VCS’s goal of supporting adults with disabilities in achieving their personal potential at home, at work and in the surrounding community.

“The goal of this event is to raise awareness about people who have disabilities in our community, and to celebrate their abilities,” Dietz said. “Our band is an example of their talent and joy for life.”

Jon Dalgarn first organized the band more than a decade years ago, and he remains the leader of its current roster of nearly two dozen members.

Voices of the Village includes vocal and instrumental positions for adults with a wide range of disabilities, who have played instruments as diverse as drums, keyboards, accordions, banjos, saxophones and even an Australian didgeridoo.

Dalgarn had already worked with adults with disabilities through VCS’s residential and vocational assistance programs, but with Voices of the Village, he believes that he’s been able to address another area of their development.

“It really changes their lives,” Dalgarn said. “By being able to express themselves in this way, they learn a bit more about how to deal with the world, and the world learns how to deal with them. This is the best gig in the world, because there is so much unmitigated joy in their performances. We hand microphones to people who, in many ways, didn’t have a voice, so that they can sing and hear other people clapping for them. It’s about way more than music. They have a real passion for it.”