Peace For One Day

On Friday, we headed out to Julia Davis Park to set up a stage and sound system for the First Annual Peace For One Day Festival. While this smaller, lighter stage is easier to set up, someone still has to crawl underneath to clamp it together. I told Dale, who usually has this "privilege", that this picture looks like something out of The Wizard of Oz:

It's a pretty good day when your job takes you to a park for a whole afternoon. The weather was perfect and the kids even collected items for a nature study.

All in all, it was a pretty easy set-up. Rob spent some time during the week simplifying the system so we don't have to take out every case we own for a smaller show like this. We set up the stage and the sound system here in less than two hours.

Being a good, peace-loving Quaker, I was ready to embrace this event and make it an educational experience for the kids, too. The festival began with the ringing of the "peace bell". This good man talked about the universe and how fliers and crawlers and buzzers (?) etc are all one with us in our call for peace. . . OK, so it was a little out of my realm of thinking, but he did touch on how everyday is a gift and we shouldn't waste any of it. That I get.

Next came the poetry reading accompanied by some kind of cool flute and a drum. I tried to take in all that was being said, but I was distracted by the crawlers and the buzzers. . .

. . . and the hacky-sackers. . .

The next order of the day was the peace dance. The Dance For Peace. I'm for peace. I found Gloria and decided to share this new experience with her. I'm opening my mind to new experiences. . .

I'm sorry, maybe I'm just too set in my ways, but this made me a little uncomfortable!!!! Rob laughed his head off while he made the video and Zach was sure I was joining a cult. I did try to find my own, more-comfortable-to-me way of embracing peace but it was all just a little mind boggling. The dancing went on for about 45 minutes but I was able to duck out during the I-am-a-flower-I-bow-to-you dance. After the dancing, a young trio took the stage. They sang a few John Lennon songs. . .

Gloria spent most of the afternoon and evening in the craft area making peace signs on everything from coffee filters to shakers:

After watching his mother dance for peace, Zach pretty much sat in shocked silence for the rest of the event. . .

After the last band finished playing, Gloria joined in the candle-lighting and lit a few candles for peace:

I'm sure I'll regret posting the video. . . .