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International Day of Peace marked by scores of people at Jaycee Park

By Staff

The International Day of Peace brought friends, lovers and perfect strangers together at Jaycee Park in south Cape Coral to enjoy a positive atmosphere of music and festivities Sunday afternoon.

The event ran from noon to 5 p.m. and offered a variety of activities including psychic readings, henna art, meditation, peace walks and motivational speaking in the open air of the quiet waterfront locale.

“We think they should have it every day,” said Robert Milne, who attended the International Day of Peace event with his wife, Martha.

“I wish more people knew about it,” Martha said. “If there were enough people who wanted to be peaceful, this war thing would just go away.”

Robert and Martha weren’t peace rookies Sunday: they attended Woodstock, the famous multi-day concert in 1969, and were part of the anti-Vietnam War movement during that time.

“We didn’t want that war,” Robert said. “I guess we continue to not want any war. I haven’t changed my outlook at all since I was a teenager in the ’60s.”

Early in the afternoon, two-piece folk rock group Hot Chick and the Guy set up equipment and prepared to fill the air with their acoustic and percussive stylings.

“It’s much in alignment with what we believe already,” said the group’s sound man, Adam Weinberg. “Awareness of anything is a key. This could be normal.”

“I think it’s sad that this is unique,” said the band’s lead guitarist and backup vocalist, Micheal Pick. “The negative stuff is out there being loud in the news. In a positive way, we’re going backwards; everything wasn’t broke until we broke it.”

Pick said the band performs in various Lee County locations with lead singer Andrea McCain.

“It definitely feels good,” said Zachari VanDyne of Peace One Day, the event’s coordinator. “Everyone is really free flowing. It’s definitely all in harmony, that’s what peace day is all about.

We all come from the same source, we all bleed the same color. We’ve got to be the peace of what we want to be as a society.”

The event at Jaycee Park was celebrated in recognition of the internationally recognized day of ceasefire and non-violence on Sept. 21 each year, established by the United Nations in 2001.