International Day of Peace

This invitation is going out to the greater Cottage Grove area. Please join us on the United Nations International Day of Peace, Thursday, September 21, 4:30 to 7 pm, at Coiner Park. This community gathering is focused around “Peace through Unity” and will feature music, art, speakers, kids activities, info booths, Awards, and the dedication of the coming Peace Pole site. The Peace Pole is being created and will have messages in many different languages and contain 196 hand painted rocks that represent all of the current countries of the world. The members of the Community are encourages to bring a picnic and your camp chairs, blankets, and settle in for a moving, peaceful, inspiring gathering. The Peace Pole will be joining our Hiroshima Peace Tree which was planted in 2020 and since has forlornly stood in a wire cage with no notice of how special it is. This tree was grown form seeds of a Ginkgo tree that survived very near ground zero of the first atomic bomb blast in Hiroshima, Japan. Among past and present mayors, and veteran peace organizers, there will be a very special speaker, International Peacemaker, Milagro Mejia de Flores from El Salvador. She is an ordained deaconess, theologian, lawyer and advocate for justice, having worked for 24 years in the judicial branch of the government. During El Salvador's civil war she advocated for peace and worked on the final peace agreement. In addition, she has worked with low income women's groups Please join us for truly inspiring and hopeful day.