> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.raincrossgazette.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# The Hard Way Up: Pink on Parade Climbs Mt. Rubidoux for a 15th Year
- URL: https://www.raincrossgazette.com/the-hard-way-up-pink-on-parade-climbs-mt-rubidoux-for-a-15th-year/
- Published: 2026-10-01T12:00:21.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T12:00:21.000Z
- Description: Riverside's breast cancer awareness walk climbs Oct. 24 with a $75,000 goal and a route its survivors chose.
- Author: Sponsored Story
- Tags: Sponsored

When the committee behind Pink on Parade first mapped its 5K to the top of Mt. Rubidoux, there was more than one way up the mountain. They took the hard one. That committee was made up of clients of [The Pink Ribbon Place](https://pink.rchf.org/?ref=raincrossgazette.com), Riverside residents who had faced cancer themselves, and they wanted the climb to carry the weight of what they had been through.

On Saturday, Oct. 24, Riverside will make that climb again. The 15th annual Pink on Parade steps off from Ryan Bonaminio Park at 5000 Tequesquite Ave., with registration opening at 7:30 a.m. and the mountain route starting at 9 a.m. Walkers who would rather not take on Mt. Rubidoux can join a 1.7K Family Fun Walk that loops the park.

### The mountain was the survivors' idea

"There is no easy way to navigate cancer," said Melissa Melendez, development and events manager at the Riverside Community Health Foundation (RCHF) and the walk's coordinator. The steep route, she said, stands in for the toll cancer takes and the strength it demands. And then the part most finish-line metaphors leave out: reaching the top doesn't mean the journey is over, Melendez said; a longer road still runs from there back toward something like normal. That the design came from survivors rather than a marketing office is part of why it has held up. Fifteen years in, the shared effort of the mountain still draws people back.

Some of the most telling moments never make the official program. Melendez describes the spirit of the day showing up in a volunteer's outstretched hand, in a survivor who is sure she can't make the climb and then makes it anyway, in someone who got a cancer-free diagnosis just a week before the walk, and in the family that carries a photograph up the mountain for the person who no longer can.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/09/Pink-on-Parade3.jpg)

Participants make their way up Mt. Rubidoux's granite steps toward the summit, the walk's signature climb. | Courtesy of Riverside Community Health Foundation

### A fundraiser that kept climbing

Pink on Parade started in 2011 as a fundraiser for The Pink Ribbon Place, held across town at Fairmount Park. It moved to Ryan Bonaminio Park in 2016 and used the room to grow. After the pandemic, the organizers reworked the layout again, adding an annual Classic Car Show and rerouting the walk so participants pass through the show on their way to the mountain.

The numbers have moved with it. Last year's walk drew roughly 1,200 participants and raised $66,400, and in 2025 about 120 cancer survivors took part, a number Melendez calls the heart of the event. (The Gazette [profiled one of them last fall](https://www.raincrossgazette.com/put-one-foot-in-front-of-the-other-cancer-survivor-leads-pink-on-parades-mission/).) Some people register before RCHF has even begun its outreach, Melendez said.

### Where every dollar goes

The reason for the mountain sits about five minutes away, at The Pink Ribbon Place, the cancer-support program of RCHF, a nonprofit whose mission is to improve the health and well-being of the community. Between 2019 and 2023, 56,506 new cancer cases were reported in Riverside County and 44,648 in neighboring San Bernardino County, according to federal cancer data.

Against that, The Pink Ribbon Place offers no-cost navigation, behavioral health support, education and cancer-care products to patients and their families across Riverside and the surrounding region. RCHF's goal for the program is to improve the quality of life for individuals and families impacted by cancer. Pink on Parade is what funds those services: RCHF says 100% of the event's proceeds and every donation go directly to the program. This year's goal is $75,000.

"Local giving ensures that help is always close to home. When cancer tests the strength of our community, our response matters and defines who we are," said Ninfa Delgado, RCHF's president and CEO. "By joining us, your presence and generosity directly funds support services at The Pink Ribbon Place so that hope, care, and healing never come with a price tag."

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/09/Pink-on-Parade1.jpg)

Walkers crowd the route at a previous Pink on Parade, the annual breast cancer awareness walk up Mt. Rubidoux. | Courtesy of Riverside Community Health Foundation

### The city that closes the road

Closing part of a landmark for a morning takes coordination, and Riverside supplies it. The City of Riverside co-sponsors the walk, coordinating across departments to make an event of this size safe and possible. The Riverside Police Department and Riverside Police Foundation have been steady partners of both the walk and The Pink Ribbon Place; their pink-wrapped patrol car honors the program, and their annual judo tournament raises money for the cause.

Behind them lines up the rest of the coalition: local businesses, hospitals, credit unions, car clubs, schools, neighborhoods and individuals who come back year after year, joined this year by a new supporting partner, Yuhaaviatam. "Pink on Parade belongs to Riverside," Melendez said. "We cannot manufacture the spirit of Pink on Parade, and Riverside brings that spirit in abundance."

### **Y**ou don't have to climb the mountain

Beyond the 5K and the family walk, teams can fundraise together, and those clearing $1,000 earn a spot in the Team Tailgate area and a shot at Most Spirited and Most Money Raised. Car enthusiasts can enter the Classic Car Show for a chance to win one of the event's awards. Families can work through the crafts and activities in the Family Fun Zone. Survivors have a Survivor Pavilion, and a Survivor Celebration with a symbolic dove release opens the morning just before the walk. Volunteers keep all of it running, from setup and route support to the Kids Zone.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/09/Pink-on-Parade4.jpg)

ivor Celebration's dove release, which opens the morning before the walk. | Courtesy of Riverside Community Health Foundation

Melendez's ask of a reader who has never come is simple: register, donate or volunteer. Cancer, as she put it, is not a journey anyone faces alone, and for one morning in October, Riverside climbs together.

**More information:* The 15th annual Pink on Parade takes place Saturday, Oct. 24, from 7:30 a.m. to noon at Ryan Bonaminio Park, 5000 Tequesquite Ave., Riverside. Registration is $30 for adults and $20 for ages 11–17 and seniors, and stays open until 9:30 a.m. on event day. The morning runs from a 7:30 a.m. registration opening and an 8:30 a.m. Survivor Celebration to the 9 a.m. Mt. Rubidoux walk and 9:15 a.m. Family Fun Walk, with music at 10:30 a.m., team and car show awards at 11:30 a.m., and a noon close. Register, donate, join a team or volunteer at* [*pinkonparade.org*](https://www.pinkonparade.org/?ref=raincrossgazette.com)*. Learn more about The Pink Ribbon Place, a program of RCHF, at* [*rchf.org*](http://rchf.org/?ref=raincrossgazette.com)*.*