On a Saturday afternoon in October, the walking trail through Missoula's Greenough Park will carry an unusual soundtrack. Rather than a single stage or a ticketed hall, the music will be scattered along a 1.2-mile loop, with acoustic performers stationed at intervals so that walkers encounter them one at a time, the way they would pass cottonwoods or catch a glimpse of Rattlesnake Creek. The event is called Melodies for the Mind, and it is the first of its kind for the Missoula affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
It is free, it requires no ticket, and it has no capacity limit. The walk begins at the Greenough Park pavilion and picnic area off Monroe Street, with the gathering set for 12:30 to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10. NAMI Missoula expects more than a dozen local bands and individual musicians to take part, among them the Five Valley Chorus, a Missoula chapter of Sweet Adelines International that sings four-part a cappella harmony in barbershop style. The chorus is listed as a confirmed performer on the event page, and NAMI directs anyone wanting the latest lineup to its Facebook event listing.
The premise is deliberately simple, and it is spelled out on NAMI Missoula's own site: stroll through the park as acoustic musicians and the sounds of nature provide "peace and harmony to your mental health." The organization describes the event as a way to combine three things it sees as tools for well-being -- music, nature and exercise -- into a single environment. "While there are many tools to promote mental health including music, nature and exercise, we are excited to combine these three elements to provide an environment conducive to peace," the affiliate writes. The stated goal is awareness and fighting the stigma that still surrounds mental illness.
That framing matters for an organization like NAMI Missoula, which describes itself as "an organization of families, friends and individuals whose lives have been affected by mental illness." The affiliate serves the Missoula community with free mental-health support, online groups, resources and education, and it advocates for better lives for people living with mental illness. Its programs include a Connection support group for peers, a Family Support Group for relatives and friends of a loved one, and a Peer-to-Peer course. NAMI itself traces its national roots to Madison, Wisconsin, in 1979, when two mothers, Harriet Shetler and Beverly Young, helped start a movement of families who refused to accept the isolation and blame that came with a loved one's diagnosis. The Missoula affiliate is one of the local chapters that grew out of that model, and its events are typically free and peer-led.
Choosing a park for the setting is not incidental. Greenough Park is Missoula's first park, 42 acres donated to the city by the Greenough family in 1902. Rattlesnake Creek runs through it, creating a riparian corridor of cottonwood bottomlands and coniferous forest, and a paved trail runs the length of the property while unpaved paths branch off toward the creek and quieter corners. The park holds a pavilion, picnic tables, a playground, horseshoe pits and a restroom. It is also a well-known birding spot: an interpretive trail named for Arnold Bolle, a conservationist and former University of Montana professor, marks out a route where more than 100 bird species have been identified. Warblers, vireos, orioles and black-headed grosbeaks pass through in spring and summer; winter brings pygmy owls, pine grosbeaks, belted kingfishers and spotted sandpipers, and pileated woodpeckers are frequently sighted. White-tailed deer are common, and an occasional black bear turns up in the early morning hours of fall.
The park's history carries its own note of intended refuge. The Greenough family mansion once stood in the area before it was moved to make way for Interstate 90, and the family's dedication of the land is remembered in a line about a "comfortable retreat" where the people of Missoula might, in the heated days of summer, the beautiful days of autumn and the balmy days of spring, find a "comfortable, romantic, and poetic retreat." An October walk with music along the creek is close to the spirit of that gift.
What distinguishes Melodies for the Mind from a conventional awareness walk or fundraiser is its format. There is no registration fee, no pledge goal and no single focal point. Walkers set their own pace along the loop and meet the music as they go, which means the event can absorb as many people as show up. NAMI Missoula bills it as fun for the whole family, and the layout -- a flat paved path, a picnic area at the start, musicians spread along the route -- is built for strollers, children and anyone who would rather move at an unhurried pace.
The timing, too, is telling. October 10 falls close to the national observance of Mental Illness Awareness Week, the early-October stretch when NAMI affiliates and other organizations push public education about mental-health conditions and the treatments available for them. A free, outdoor, family-friendly walk with local musicians is a low-threshold way to mark it -- no clinical setting, no panel discussion, just a park trail and a series of small performances.
For anyone who wants to take part, the meeting point is the upper picnic area of Greenough Park off Monroe Street, with the walk running from 12:30 to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10. More information, including an updated list of performers, is available through NAMI Missoula's website and its Facebook event page. The event is open to the public at no cost.