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Date: 5/10/2022
AMHERST – The Julius Ford/Harriet Tubman Healthy Living Community (HLC) hosted a festival at Mill River Recreation Area on May 7 for a day featuring basketball, art, music, food, horses and more.
“The Healthy Living Community Festival is in collaboration with the Human Rights Commission from Amherst, the CRESS (Community Responders for Equity, Safety & Service) program and also Amherst Rec. “This festival is just to really celebrate joy in these times that we’re going through,” said HLC member and organizer Debora Ferreira. “We’ve had a lot happening in terms of the [coronavirus] pandemic that people have suffered, as well as what has happened in terms of showcasing the police brutality and everything happening around the George Floyd murder. Not that George Floyd was the first one, there’s been thousands of people of color that have been murdered in that way.”
Julius Ford co-founded the HLC in 2009. Ferreira said he was a community activist that wanted to bring families together who are intentional about focusing on love and how to take care of your mind, body and spirit while putting good things in your body and making sure the community is about that as well.
“We wanted to bring it to Amherst because Amherst is a town that has a lot of resources but sometimes it is only focused toward people who are from a high echelon in terms of their income and are not from the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) community,” Ferreira said. “We wanted to bring this festival to make sure that all in the community are represented, people from all walks of life, we have our white allies here that are making sure that they understand the dream and the vision of inclusivity and community.”