Published: September 20, 2008 06:40 pm      

International Day of Peace celebration promotes pinwheels for peace

EDMOND — Edmond residents are invited to join students and teachers from 3-5 p.m. Sunday at the Myriad Gardens at Reno and Robinson in downtown Oklahoma City for a free event.

The governor has proclaimed Sunday as an International Day of Peace for Oklahoma students and their families to join with millions of students throughout the world as they participate in the U.N.’s International Day of Peace celebration.

Thousands of pinwheels with words about peace and harmony, made by youth, will spin in the wind on school campuses and throughout the Oklahoma City area, as well as in countries around the world.

Jet Torrence, English teacher at Cimarron MS, will be among the teachers placing hundreds of pinwheels on the Great Lawn of the Myriad Gardens.

Speakers will be joined by students participating at the celebration event including Anadarko Native American Dancers, Columbus “Sunorame” Folkloric Dancers, Hill Irish Dancers, Oklahoma City Linwood Elementary’s A+ Choir, Putnam City North’s Step Team, St. Andrew Dung Lac Lion Dancers, St. George Greek Orthodox Festival Dancers, the Maya School of Dance and artist and performer Steve McLinn.

Bring blankets, lawn chairs and water for festival seating on the Great Lawn (in the northwest corner).

“In today’s world, peace needs to become more than just a word,” said Joan Korenblit, director of the Respect Diversity Foundation.

“Today’s students are bombarded with television images, video games and magazine articles and newspapers that give importance to conflict and war.”

Korenblit said violence has become commonplace and accepted as part of society and, for some students, it is a way of life.

“It is our hope that through the Pinwheels for Peace project, we can help the students make a public visual statement about their feelings about war, peace, tolerance, cooperation, harmony, unity and, in some way, maybe, awaken the public and let them know what the next generation is thinking,” Korenblit said.

For information on the international event sponsored by the United Nations, go to www.pinwheelsforpeace.com.

For more information, go to www.una-okc.org; www.respectdiversity.org; or www.castfortheworld.com.