2 Colorado parents on a mission to keep teens safe on the road host a festival in honor of their daughter
In a touching tribute to their late daughter, Dave Leikam and his wife, Natalie Leikam, hosted Makenzie's Dream Festival at a park in Centennial in on what would have been Makenzie Leikam's 30th birthday. It took place on Saturday at Centennial Center Park.
Makenzie tragically lost her life in a car accident on Interstate 70 while returning from the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 2013. She is remembered as a free spirit with an incredible belief in the goodness of humanity.
Her parents believe that fatigue played a role in the accident, not drugs and alcohol.
"I asked her, I said, 'Hey, what do you want to do for a living?' and she goes, 'Dad, I've got it dialed in,'" Dave recalled. "She said, 'I want to go out and have my own festival.'"
To fulfill Makenzie's dream, her parents brought bands, family and friends from her high school days together for the festival.
"This is what she always wanted, so we wanted to bring a lot of bands, and many of the bands are family and friends of hers from high school," said Natalie Leikam, Makenzie's mother.
"Makenzie's Dream Festival" is not only a dream come true, but it also serves a vital purpose -- promoting road safety. As part of their mission, Dave, a firefighter for South Metro Fire, and his wife Natalie have partnered with the South Metro Safety Foundation to provide crash avoidance classes.
"The safety foundation has said for every kid we sponsor, they'll sponsor a kid, so we are hoping this fall we can get over 30 kids to driving school," Dave explained.
Students participating in these classes will learn about the dangers of impaired driving, defensive driving techniques just to name a few.
"If we can sponsor one kid and prevent them from passing away, we have one less parent that has to go through what we went through," added Dave.
Makenzie's memory lives on through the heartfelt event. Her parents remind everyone of one quote their daughter always expressed: "Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass but learning how to dance in the rain," said Dave.
A donation of $1,800 equals 10 crash avoidance scholarships. The Safety Foundation would like to match the donations so they can host a whole month of scholarships in honor of Makenzie.
The family raised over $10,000 for this cause through an online GoFundMe fundraiser. They also got $1,600 in cash donations. You can text "MAK" to 53-555 to donate in honor of Makenzie.