HOLYOKE – The joyful, carnival-like atmosphere of the 3rd annual Magic for Maddie celebration at the Holyoke Elks Lodge on Saturday had a serious purpose. Thousands of parents and children played midway games, jumped in bounce houses, listened to live music and watched magic shows, all in the name of 8-year-old Maddie Schmidt and to raise tens of thousands of dollars to fight the brain cancer that killed her three years ago.

When it debuted in 2022, Magic for Maddie raised money to help fund clinical trials to try to cure Maddie’s diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, an insidious form of brain cancer that has defied the best attempts at a cure of science. After her death, the family continued Magic for Maddie to raise money to fight childhood cancers, including diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.