Peace Festival draws social justice, fair trade advocates
Close to 2,000 attendees turned out Saturday for the 34th annual Peace Festival at the Civic Center Music Hall, Meinders Hall of Mirrors.
Advocates for social justice, environmental sustainability, fair trade and human rights manned 62 tables and included the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Red Earth Vegans, Fertile, Ground, the Sierra Club and Buddhist, Unitarian and Quaker organizations.
Organized by Peace House Oklahoma City, the theme was “Everything for the Common Good.”
“This is a family tradition. We have a 25- and 27-year-old and we’ve been bringing them since they were 3 and 5 years old,” said Julia Mason, of Mustang. “It’s just an eclectic gathering with lots of different ideas.”
Some patrons said the energy surrounding the event was more tangible this year.
“There’s a lot more people here than I anticipated,” said Van Hollen, of Choctaw. “It’s quite exciting.”
Courtney Hurst of Oklahoma City agreed.
“It’s a great turnout. We’ve had a steady flow of people,” she said. “It’s really nice to be around people who are trying to make Oklahoma a better place.”
Organizer and Peace House Director Nathaniel Batchelder said much of the interest this year has been generated by the recent midterm election.
“Typically, we get about 2,000 visitors ... but this looks like an above average day. I think there’s been a lot of energy around this event this year,” Batchelder said.
“The elections were a big deal. It’s wonderful right after the elections to have a festival where the justice and peace organizations civil rights, human rights, environmental issues were all here. It’s a great day of solidarity,” he said.
The Peace House mission centers on education and advocacy for human rights, economic justice, environmental sustainability, nonviolence and peace.
“We regularly send out alerts by email or Facebook on actions people can take specifically with our state Legislature or our national congressional delegation in politics and policies that affect people in this country and around the world,” Batchelder said. “We network, we advocate, we educate, we have a speakers’ bureau.”
For more information about Peace House, go online to https://peacehouseok.org.