Rose Park community festival and interfaith roundtable foster unity

Unity Baptist Church will host the first annual Rose Park community festival on Saturday, June 15th from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The festival, which will be located at the baptist church at 1170 West 1000 North, is free for all to attend. It will feature a mix of food trucks, games for kids, and other family activities.

Interfaith Roundtable

In addition to the festival, there will be a neighborhood interfaith roundtable. Organizers hope the roundtable will foster dialogue and connection among neighborhood residents. G. Ernest Hughes with Unity Baptist Church said he hopes the roundtable becomes a yearly event for everyone in the neighborhood to spend time and get to know each other.

“We're trying to get the community itself as a whole together to let them realize the value of their neighbors,” Hughes said. “We have a very diverse community and the only time we see each other and react with each other is if we go to the state fair or if we go to the rodeo or if we participate in a Jazz outing or something like that.”

Looking at other community events, like sports, one sees just how expensive activities can be. Currently, season ticket passes for Jazz games are priced at $860. There are other premium seating offers at the Delta Center for groups that are in the thousands of dollars. With the NHL coming to Utah as well, it will be even costlier to attend sporting events.

“The thing is that in Utah and Salt Lake City proper, most of those things the average person can't really afford,” Hughes said, making it difficult for Rose Park residents and others to gather together outside of their neighborhood.

The festival, along with the interfaith roundtable, will provide a free and accessible way for neighbors to congregate in familiar surroundings.

Kent Moore, a Rose Park resident who serves as a liaison between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Rose Park neighborhood, has been reaching out to the different faiths in the area to participate in the roundtable.

Organizing the interfaith roundtable hasn’t been without its challenges. Some faith groups were reluctant to participate, making outreach difficult, according to Moore and Hughes. Because Moore serves as a liaison for the LDS Church, there were initial suspicions that there may be attempts to convert or recruit members from other faiths.

“All we're trying to do is say, ‘let's share our commonality,’” he said. “Hence, the thought of bringing everyone together.”

Hughes said that while some faiths like the idea of the roundtable, others are hesitant to participate due to their response to current world events.

“Most of the answers we've got were very united, so to speak,” he said, “We get some dissension because of what's happening in the world today, but that's something we don't have control over.”

Moore and Hughes agree that undue hostility can take place from a lack of awareness and understanding of a person’s background due to preconceived notions. That lack of awareness, along with other issues like potential scheduling conflicts, added to the challenges of bringing all the neighborhood faiths together for the roundtable.

Even with these challenges, Moore notes that other communities, such as Cottonwood Heights and Draper, face their own issues, and he sees the roundtable as an opportunity for residents to find solutions through dialogue.

Community Festival

For the festival itself, Moore said he encourages the different congregations to bring something of their culture to share with everyone, whether it’s a dance or some other cultural performance.

Festival organizers are in talks with the Salt Lake City Fire Department, police department, and the Utah National Guard to each donate a vehicle for the day as an added attraction for kids and their families.

That, along with contributions from others, will provide something for people to bond over while they attend the festival. However, there is one component of the festival that Moore and Hughes hope will happen for everyone to enjoy.

“Come up with some kind of a common song like Amazing Grace,” Moore said, suggesting that different congregations could sing it in their own languages, such as Spanish or Vietnamese.

Overall, Moore expressed gratitude to Hughes from Unity Baptist Church for wanting to organize a festival and for offering to host it on the church’s property.

“He suggested that we put together a multicultural festival and he's got a lot of grassy area,” he said. In addition, Unity Baptist Church’s grounds will be restored through the My Hometown initiative, an LDS Church-based program that brings churches and other community members together for neighborhood service projects.

Despite its association with the LDS Church, Moore said the initiative is not focused on proselytizing or church doctrine. As previously reported in The West View, the initiative is actually managed by local organizers. Unity Baptist’s grounds will be restored before the festival begins, according to Moore.

“We're going to the Unity Baptist Church and we're gonna help get that whole property cleaned up the way Ernest wants it so that when we do this festival, it's a good show,” Moore said.

Hughes, who is currently recovering from surgery, hopes the festival – like the roundtable – will give local leaders an opportunity to attend and meet with residents. He believes this will allow them to listen to people’s needs and concerns before making decisions that impact their lives and livelihoods.

“I would hope they realize what we are and why we are,” he said. “I would hope before they make any decisions or take a vote, they come and ask.”