Christina Grimmie’s family is opening the first-ever Grimmie Fest from June 5 to 7, 10 years after her death. The christina grimmie memorial centers on a fan meet-up and a benefit concert in Orlando, giving the anniversary a public shape instead of a private remembrance.
Albert Grimmie’s June 5 to 7 plan
Albert Grimmie, Christina’s father and the founder of the Christina Grimmie Foundation, said he wants her remembered for both her life and her work. “We want Christina to be remembered for the person and artist she was, not just the tragedy,” he said.
The foundation was created in 2016 to help victims of gun violence, and Grimmie Fest is its first event of this size tied directly to the anniversary. The benefit concert is headlined by The Living Tombstone, a band Marcus Grimmie manages.
Orlando and the Plaza Live
Christina was 22 when she died from injuries suffered on June 10, 2016, after being shot once in the head and three times in the torso at the Plaza Live theater in Orlando, Florida. Kevin Loibl, an obsessed 27-year-old fan, shot her after she performed with Before You Exit.
Marcus Grimmie tackled Loibl to the ground before Loibl shot himself in the head and died on the scene. That sequence is part of why the family’s anniversary push leans so hard on celebration and gathering; it shifts the public memory away from a single violent ending and toward the work, audience, and community around her name.
Fans, memory, and the Living Tombstone
Christina had wider reach before her death as a YouTube sensation and a season 6 contestant on The Voice. The first Grimmie Fest folds that audience into a single three-day event, with the benefit concert doing the clearest fundraising work for the foundation’s mission.
Tyler Ward, one of her friends and collaborators, has said of her death, “[Her death] still doesn’t feel real. I don’t know if I’ll ever process the shock of that.” For fans deciding whether to attend, the practical takeaway is simple: this is not just a memorial date, but the family’s first organized attempt to make the anniversary a live event with a charitable endpoint.
