International Peace Day Festival Sunday

“We want people to change their values. We want them to transition from thinking and feeling negative to feeling happy and that is peace,” said Trish Knox, one of the organizers of the International Day of Peace Festival in Woodinville Sunday, Sept. 18 at the .

The daylong event is part of the movement by the United Nations which designated Sept. 21 as a day of spreading peace. The Woodinville celebration is taking that concept and building on it to include the Happiness Initiative and Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots program.

More than anything the day is designed to be a celebration of life and community, said Knox. “We want this to foster a sense of community, synergy, a sense of hope. It’s a day to meet your neighbor and be a part of a local movement for peace.”

To create that sense of community, the day’s schedule is filled with events for children, musical performances, a Peace Dove Puppet parade, workshops and speakers.Hollywood Hill Elementary School teacher Beth Robinson’s third grade class will participate in the parade.

Dave Hunter of Crown Bees will be harvesting bee tubes from this , aimed at boosting the population of native bees, to see which species have been pollinating in the valley. Hunter, a world renowned bee expert, is also the expert apian who discovered the Wool Carder bee in the Sammamish Valley.

In addition to the Peace Dove Puppet parade (part of Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots program), there will be a children’s songwriting workshop. Other kids’ activities include a scavenger hunt, giant bubbles, yoga, veggie creations and creating a recycling collage.

The event is free, from noon-5:30 p.m. at Sammamish Valley Farm at Olympic Nursery, 16215 140^th Place NE, Woodinville. Bring a blanket or chair to sit on, there will be food vendors onsite, and plenty of room to picnic.

The day’s schedule is:

12 p.m.—Activities for Kids

12:30 p.m.—Roots and Shoots Peace Dove Puppet Parade

12:45 p.m.—Lunch bring a picnic or purchase food from one of the vendors

1:15 p.m.—Music from Celtic Fire

1:45 p.m.—Peace proclamation from Tony Roebuck, Unity Center of Peace

1:50 p.m.—John de Graff, Happiness Initiative

2 p.m.—Dana Lyons Concert with Peace Dove Puppet Parade

3 p.m.—Break

3:30 p.m.—Dana Lyons Children’s Songwriting Workshop

4:15 p.m.—Break

4:30 p.m.—Tangletown bluegrass concert

5:30 p.m.--Closing

The event is being sponosred by Transition Woodinville, Community Threads, Sammamish Valley Grange, Olympic Nursery, Maltby Café, , Antioch University, Unity Center of Peace