Three hundred forty people walked along a path of purple shoes on Saturday morning in remembrance of those lost to domestic violence. Wichita State hosted the 10th annual Purple Mile on Saturday joined by its largest crowd since it began. 

Taronza Bronson walked for her daughter, Zaiylah Bronson, who was a student at WSU in 2022 and died as a result of domestic violence in 2023. Bronson was joined by family and friends. 

“It warms my heart with joy to see so many people are still excited and supportive,” Bronson said. 

Keri McGregor, program director of Harbor House, a shelter for domestic violence survivors and the organization behind The Purple Mile, said the walk is intended to “memorialize the lives that have been lost and affected by domestic violence.” 

“In turn, it then does help us raise awareness and things of that nature and resource sharing,” McGregor said. 

McGregor, who has helped organize the event since its start, said it is exciting to see so many people show up for an event like The Purple Mile. Harbor House created the event as a way for families of domestic violence victims to memorialize their loved ones. 

“We’ve had a lot more vendors and resource sharing over the years,” McGregor said. “… It’s a lot of entities that a survivor would typically utilize.” 

There were 18 vendors at the location, which was also the highest number of vendors since the event’s beginning. 

Bronson said she hopes that people suffering from domestic violence can see there is help for them at events like The Purple Mile. She also hopes that people can learn to recognize early signs of abuse through these types of awareness events. 

“A lot of people miss those beginning steps,” Bronson said. “Hopefully, they can learn the steps of awareness before it gets that far.” 

A speaker at the event, Alexis Smith, was last year’s Miss Kansas, and she spoke about her experiences with domestic abuse. She said she grew up in a generational cycle of domestic violence, and she wanted to break it as well as help others break theirs.

Talking about her experience with domestic violence in her family, Smith said, “Some of the things I saw, I should have never seen, and my little brother should have never seen. And a big part of breaking that cycle not only was for me and my family, but for my little brother. I wanted to have that leadership for him.” 

Smith went viral after winning Miss Kansas after videos of her calling out her alleged abuser, who was in the crowd, were shared on social media. 

Atticus Disney, a Sedgwick County District Attorney, said that seeing all the people is his favorite part of the event. 

“My favorite part of this event is — year after year — seeing the people who continue to return,” Disney said. “They sort of become familiar faces.” 

Disney said that in his four years of attending the event, he’s seen it grow in scale and number of attendees. 

“That has been another amazing thing to watch,” Disney said.