By Mary Hladky
Can you believe we have been doing the PeaceWorks KC Art Fair for 33 years? We began our fairs in 1991, skipped a year because of Covid, and now have held another wonderful art fair. Fifty-one artists participated in this year’s event at Theis Park on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 21-22. Unfortunately, the rain and clouds kept the crowd size down. But even with the inclement weather, people had a good time.
One of our new exhibitors was Therese McKechnie, who brought two peace poles—one decorated by 100+ adults and the other by 25+ children at the fair. Peace Poles were created in 1955 by Mr. Masahisa Goi in Japan. There are over 250,000 Peace Poles on earth, including all seven continents and every country. Each one bears the universal peace message, May Peace Prevail on Earth.
The International Day of Peace is celebrated on Sept. 21 each year, which fittingly came during fair. These two poles will be displayed in the Kansas City area. Therese will announce the locations soon.
Also, a group of activists built a beautiful healing circle from nature’s bounty, providing a gathering place to mourn all those dying in war, especially in Gaza, half of whom are children who live in tremendous fear while trapped inside Gaza. It was an opportunity to provide support, a place to meditate, read a poem, say a prayer, or simply rest.
Health Care Workers for Palestine convened the circle. Jean, a nurse, brought twin baby onesies and named them after specific twin babies who were killed. Ann Suellentrop, a nurse on the PeaceWorks Board, brought her baptismal outfit and the First Communion dress her mother made by hand. “I was thinking of the innocence of the babies and children who are being massacred,” Ann said. “More children have been murdered in Gaza in the last year than in all other wars added together from the last three years.”
The social justice tables, alongside the artists’ booths, were sponsored by these groups: Health Care Workers for Palestine, Al-Hadaf KC, the Green Party in KC, Missourians Against the Death Penalty, Cherith Brook Catholic Worker House, Ranked Choice Voting, Penn Valley Friends Quaker Meeting, and Missouri Jobs for Justice.
We are forever grateful to all the volunteers—those who did the hard work of setting up and breaking down all that is involved in a big fair, and others who were night-time guards. And we thank those who worked during fair hours, serving as cashiers and drivers.
Even though the fair was enjoyed by those attending, visitor numbers and sales were very low. PeaceWorks KC will once again be financially challenged as little to no profit will be made this year, hampering our work throughout the year. When considering where to invest your donation dollars, please put PeaceWorks at the top of your list.
Mary Hladky serves on the PeaceWorks Board. © 2024, Mary Hladky, Jim Hannah, Ann Suellentrop, Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International License.
