2016 U Street Funk Parade to Feature Thousands of People in the 'Boombox Walk'

Get ready for a wild time on U Street this weekend, and a new app is aiming to get everyone involved in the party.

The 2016 Funk Parade, which starts at 4 p.m. on May 7, will be drawing a massive crowd of more than 75,000 people, and the new Boombox App will allow anyone in the crowd to participate in the "Boombox Walk" as part of the parade, according to a statement from the app developer and parade organizers.

The Funk Parade celebrates the U Street neighborhood and the music and arts scene in D.C. The first parade was in 2014, and 25,000 people participated. That quickly swelled to 50,000 people last year, and now that could grow beyond 75,000 this year.

Parade co-founder Chris Naoum came up with the idea for the app, and reached out to local DC artist Alex Braden. Naoum wanted portions of the parade to have more music, and thought it would be good to have every person with an individual speaker playing their own music.

So the Funk Parade teamed up with developers Deloitte Digital to create a mobile app that would connect parade participants through music.

"The app consists of eight unique boomboxes, each playing a unique section of Braden’s composition, with visuals designed by Deloitte Digital artists," the statement reads. "When users are nearby, the music syncs up using bluetooth to create unique, funky beats. A pair of users can cycle through the eight combinations of instruments, 'remixing' the composition as they like; and eight or more users could collaborate to enjoy the entire mix of instruments and funk."

Sound like fun? You can find out more by visiting www.funkparade.com.

Image via Funk Parade