Seasoned performers and high schoolers both will be part of a celebration of Wayne County’s internationally known jazz heritage.
Starr-Gennett Foundation’s Gennett Records Walk of Fame Festival will take place from 3-8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, at Starr Gennett Building, 101 S. First St., Richmond.
Admission is free, and all ages are welcome.
Free shuttle buses will run from approximately 3:30 to 8:30 p.m. between Starr-Gennett Building and the former Well Care Community Health parking lot at 201 E. Main St. because parking is limited in the Whitewater Gorge.
The headlining Sock Joplin Trio performs music ranging from classical, jazz and blues to neo-soul that honors the Gennett Records legacy.
Their set, starting around 6:45 p.m., will spotlight music by Duke Ellington, the premier artist that this year’s Walk of Fame celebrates.
Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton and Hoagy Carmichael are among the musicians who put their compositions on wax in the 1920s at that site. Music enthusiasts started the Starr-Gennett Foundation in 1991 to preserve and foster appreciation for the city’s music history.
Indianapolis-based Sock Joplin Trio includes composer/saxophonist Jared Thompson, pianist Joshua Thompson and vocalist PsyWrn Simone. They drew about 300 listeners to Starr-Gennett Building last year for Richmond Symphony Orchestra’s summer concert series.
Richmond High School’s drumline and steel drum ensemble will kick off the performances around 3:30 p.m., followed by blues from Achilles Tenderloin around 4 p.m. A brass quintet of Richmond Symphony Orchestra musicians will play at about 5:30 p.m.
The full symphony begins its season Sept. 19 at Civic Hall Performing Arts Center.
Longtime Starr-Gennett board member Bob Jacobsen said the organization is delighted to partner with RSO, RHS and other organizations to offer a full day of arts events. Potterypalooza, just a couple blocks away at Richmond Art Museum, will end just as the music festival begins.
The building has a roof, so no rain date is needed. About 10 inches of water from the Aug. 12 heavy rains went inside, but Richmond Parks and Recreation has power washed the building to prepare for guests.
Walk of Fame damage update
Starting in 2007, Starr-Gennett Foundation gradually installed about 30 medallions celebrating inductees in classic jazz, old-time country, blues, gospel, popular song, ethnic, historic/spoken and classical music.
They were embedded in the sidewalk in what’s called the Gennett Records Walk of Fame outside the Starr-Gennett Building, 101 S. First St., Richmond.
Longtime Starr-Gennett volunteer Bob Jacobsen said a lot of money was invested in 2022 to re-install the medallions on an incline to reduce damage from water and temperature changes.
Although mud removal was needed, the medallions weren’t damaged in the Aug. 12 flooding.
However, about 20 of the medallions still await repairs after June vandalism, when the bronze records were removed. The mosaic likenesses of the musicians weren’t damaged.
Jacobsen said the repairs likely will take place next spring when the insurance reimbursement is settled. He said a man has been accused of the damage and is going through the court system.
Find the list of Walk of Fame inductees at starrgennettfoundation.org, where donations can be made.
Gifts also can be sent to SGF at 33 S. Seventh St., Richmond, IN 47374.
A version of this article appeared in the September 9 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.
