Music will be in the air on Sept. 21 as Elmira celebrates the annual International Day of Peace by partaking in the first international ceasefire, which will feature music at venues throughout the town.
Peace One Day, a non-profit organization, was founded in 1999 by British documentary filmmaker Jeremy Gilley who successfully campaigned the United Nations in passing a resolution recognizing Peace Day.
The objective of the organization is to foster Peace Day as a day for wide-scale community action as well as a day for UN agencies and aid organizations to safely carry out lifesaving work.
In 2008 the NGO managed to organize a ceasefire in Afghanistan. That effort proved successful as there was a 70 per cent reduction in hostilities and 1.4 million children were immunized against polio by the World Health Organization (WHO), which had been impossible previously because of the dangers in that country.
This year the goal of the organization is to have an international ceasefire for one day: soldiers from all nations are being asked not to fire unless they are fired upon.
“This will be the first one and I am hoping there will be more in the future,” said Sandra Bray, who is organizing the local efforts.
“When I heard about this event, my goal became to have the citizens and the children of Elmira to be able to say ‘I celebrated the very first (international ceasefire)’. Our diverse community will be creating a celebratory event with a wide variety of music all over town.”
The goal in Elmira is to have an afternoon and evening full of music to celebrate the event. There are 13 locations in town that have signed on to hold events, including churches and businesses such as The Robin’s Nest, The Junction at Zion Mennonite Fellowship Church, Trinity United Church, The Central Tavern, Home Hardware, and the Elmira public library steps.
There will be various musicians performing at the different locations, including Matt Thompson with Ekhaya performing reggae roots and rock, Tricia Brubacher singing folk rock, Larry Hope performing country music and Dan Ragula’s one-man band.
“This is always something I have been interested in,” said Bray. “I belonged to an international art group that was dedicated to promoting peaceful relations in the world and this event really impressed me.”
The event starts at 4 p.m. and continues until midnight.
For more information visit the Peace One Day website at www.peaceoneday.org.
