SONGS FOR PEACE
Annual fair returns for eighth year to Saratoga
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » A scorching hot first Sunday of fall couldn’t keep people away the eighth annual Peace Fair at PresbyterianNew England Congregational Church.
The fair showcased 50 exhibits, one of which was Bridges of Peace and Hope, founded by John Farrell in 2009. Farrell, who travels regularly to help communities around the world, explained how the fair is important to the community.
“I think it’s a great opportunity people have to understand that there are people that are much different than they are in some ways, but basically the same, once you start to get into one another’s story,” said Farrell, who has been involved in five or six of the eight local fairs.
Farrell was one of the many performers during the four-hour afternoon event.
“[I sang] Hello my Friends, which teaches kids to say hello in 18 different languages — [with] which you can greet more than twothirds of the world’s people,” said Farrell. “The real hook of the song is a smile and a hello is where friendship begins.”
Song was a major theme of the event, a part of the Concert across America to End Gun Violence, which last year saw 5,225 performers band together in 43 states at 350 events.
“Kids ask me — because I travel a lot — ‘How many lan-
guages do you speak?” Farrell said, “and I say, ‘Well, I only speak three: I speak English, I speak music and I speak love, but the second two are spoken everywhere.”
The Peace Fair is just one staple of a week-long event that began late last week and continues Monday, as the Saratoga Immigration Coalition sponsors Immigrant Stories: In Their Own Words at 6:30 p.m. at Caffé Lena, 47 Phila St.
People can learn about the Peace Crops from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Mango Tree Imports, 454 Broadway. Mango Tree Imports, founded by returning Peace Corps volunteers, will have returning volunteers from the 1960s to 2016. Refreshments will be provided.
The final event of Peace Week, a screening of Michael Moore’s documentary, Bowling for Columbine, takes place at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the St. Peter’s Parish Center, 64 Hamilton St., with a panel discussion afterwards that is scheduled to include a representative from the Diocese Peace and Justice Commission.
The Rev. Joe Cleveland of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Saratoga Springs the Peace Fair is also a show of unjity among the community’s different congregations.
“It’s too easy for us to stay in our little silos,” said Rev. Cleveland. “This is one terrific way to not just get the message out to the world that we are working for peace, but that are working to get to know one another and learn how to do community well.”