Diversity and inclusion were themes of Peace Festival at Shiloh Park
The theme of Saturday’s Peace Festival was diversity and connection.
The event was hosted and organized by the Center for Racial Harmony and Scott Air Force Base’s Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging committee.
With about 100 people in attendance, the sixth annual festival took place at the Shiloh Community Park under a pavilion decorated with flower arrangements, bright-colored table cloths, and different flags of the world to support the theme.
Just outside of the pavilion, organizations, police departments, and food vendors from the metro-east had booths set up for attendees.
The festival began in the morning with open remarks from Donna Moody, the president of the Center for Racial Harmony, and Jerril Jones, the vice president of the Center for Racial Harmony, about the history and purpose of the non-profit organization.
“Racial Harmony should be on the forefront of everybody’s mind at this time that we’re in,” Jones said. “The Center for Racial Harmony is all about coming to the table, having good conversation, and understanding where everybody’s coming from.
“We are nonjudgmental. As I said, we’re about communication, understanding, and cooperation.”
Live entertainment was the main focus of the festival.
The Gene Jackson Band played tunes as attendees enjoyed the weather, food, and conversation. The Circus Harmony juggled, hula-hooped, tumbled, unicycled, and contorted the crowd into amazement. The Scott Air Force Base’s Shades of Blue Band had the crowd dancing and singing as they performed their renditions of hit songs like “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” “Valerie”, “I Will Survive,” and “No Diggity.”
Like Racial Harmony, Metro East Pride also believes in building bridges in communities by promoting peace, harmony, and diversity, its leaders said.
“Our tag line is actually diversity, equality, and inclusion,” said Randy Elser, the president of Metro East Pride. “Our entire community is about inclusion and diversity so it’s a great correlation to the Center for Racial Harmony.
“That’s why we’re here today. We’ve been participating since day one when the Peace Festival began six years ago in Belleville.”
Metro East Pride is an organization aimed to promote unity, inclusion, and a positive image among lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender persons throughout southwestern Illinois.
Capt. Kirk Brueggeman of the O’Fallon Police Department says the department supports diversity and inclusion.
“We are always looking for ways to engage with our community, to get out and let people know what the O’Fallon Police Department is about, and learn about people,” Brueggeman said.
“We’re also always looking for ways to diversify our police department and recruit people, either through our city, (human resources) department, the police department, or dispatch center. We really love the message that Racial Harmony has out here and we want to be a part of it in any way.”
The festival ended in the afternoon with closing remarks from Donna Moody, who said the event exceeded her expectations.
“Today was the most perfect day. The weather was great, the people were wonderful, and everyone was working together.”
This story was originally published September 27, 2021 at 7:00 AM.