The Bandshell at Reid Park will be the most peaceful and musical place in all of Tucson on Saturday afternoon. The 34th annual Peace Fair and Music Festival is spreading the love with five hours of musical acts, fun activities and numerous charity organizations.

There are dozens of groups and organizations around Tucson striving to make the city and the world a better place to live in. 

Groups like Veterans for Peace, Sustainable Tucson, No More Deaths and many more will be present at the fair. 

The event is known as the largest gathering of peace, social justice and environmental activist groups in Arizona.

Every year, the day is a celebration of all the wonderful things happening in Tucson and a place for members of the community to find information about the groups that are making these things happen. 

It’s also an afternoon to enjoy local music, participate in a raffle and spend some time with friends and family. The event is free and everyone in the community is invited.

The party begins at 11 a.m. with music from One HeartBeat, a local world beat percussion band known for sharing their music at all sorts of charity events. The rest of the day’s music lineup includes Tucson’s Raging Grannies, the Gamelan Orchestra, BAM! and several others, making for a music-filled afternoon. The closing ceremony is at 3:40 p.m., with Quynn Elizabeth Shamanic Group.

Each year the fair has a theme that reflects a bigger issue facing the world; this year’s focus is the migrant crisis. Compassion for Refugees and Migrants: All One World is what this year’s fair is all about.

“I’m really down with the Pope’s message about building bridges instead of walls,” said Mary DeCamp, the fair coordinator and secretary at Tucson Peace Center. “With the climate change and the dislocation that occurs to various people, we’re going to see ever more need for compassion towards refugees and migrants.”

The Owl & Panther Project, a Hopi Foundation project, is one of the organizations that will be at the fair. 

The project focuses its efforts on assisting refugees. According to its website, “Owl and Panther is an expressive arts project designed to help refugee families relocated to Tucson who have been affected by trauma and torture.”

The fair is coordinated by the Tucson Peace Center, which consists of a small group of citizens who connect the activist groups in town and spread the word about events and efforts that are happening. Each month the Tucson Peace Center puts together a calendar of all the meetings, concerts, presentations and happenings occurring within a network of over 70 local activist groups in an effort to keep the community informed.

When it comes down to it, the Peace Fair & Music Festival is a place where people who want to do something to better the world can meet and enjoy one another’s company while spreading a message of peace and love.

DeCamp believes in the strength of community and likes that the fair is a place for people to learn what others care about while sharing their passions.

“This is a way to increase the resiliency of the social fabric: to make more connections, to care more about each other, to focus on the positive,” DeCamp said.  “I really do care deeply about Tucson and about our community and about what we can do, individually and collectively, to make it the best it can be.”