There are festivals for drinking beer. There are festivals for eating food. There are festivals for different cultures. Now there’s a festival for your mind and body.
The first Camas Wellness Festival, which runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday spread across six locations in downtown Camas, is dubbed as “a resource for empowering families within the community of Camas,” according to the festival website. There are more than 35 different sessions offered. The festival is free.
Festival organizer Erika Levy, a yoga instructor, said she was moved to create the festival after teaching some Kindness Camps in Camas last summer.
“I wanted to do more for the community and do something on a bigger scale to bring awareness to social and emotional well-being,” said Levy, who specializes in women and children’s yoga, and lives with her husband, Juan, daughter Ariana, 5, and son Niko, 3.
The festival includes workshops, speakers and activities that center around well-being and mental health. There are sessions for youth suicide prevention, academic pressures and stress and creating queer spaces, as well as live music and dance and yoga sessions. There are also workshops aimed at all ages of women that focus on self-love and acceptance.
“How is social media, and what’s happening politically right now impacting women and girls?” Levy said. “What kind of message does that send? And how are we going to impact girls to find their voice and empower them to make meaningful change in the world versus retreat, get depressed and shut down by all that’s happening?”
Levy organized the festival with partners Aspen Tufares and Kimberly Berry. (“This festival has been produced 100 percent by moms,” she said.) And she’s gathered more than 15 sponsors for the event.
Levy has a history with sales, marketing and event planning, and she said the festival is the perfect fusion of those past careers with her current career teaching yoga. As a mom, she says, it’s her dream festival. She said it can be a good way to promote resources and ideas that might not get as much exposure in a smaller city like Camas — Levy lived in Los Angeles for a decade, and moved to Camas from Denver.
“Social, emotional well-being is (important) from an early age to set children up for success in life. The major markets have resources that are very mainstream,” she said. “I think the festival grew so big, so fast because the community really needs this and wants this.”
At the end of the festival, there will be a fundraiser for Dance Evolution’s new nonprofit Embody Love and Dance Program, which offers workshops that empower local girls. You can view and bid on prizes at go.rallyup.com/camaswellnessfestival through noon Monday. You can also text “embodylove” to 855-202-2100 and receive a link to enter the raffle. The raffle drawing will happen at 1 p.m.
