Walking through Esther Short Park during the annual Peace and Justice Fair feels like a party, a celebration of peace, love and unity.
At least that’s how Kay Ellison, chair of the organizing committee, describes the fair, now in its 15th year.
“It’s like a party for all these people who are working for peace,”Ellison said.
Representatives from local activist groups, social services, different religions and beliefs gathered in the park Saturday with a simple goal: get to know one another and local opportunities to make the world a better place.
“The fair has become established enough that people are counting on it,” she said. “It’s something that people who are not even part of Vancouver are coming to.”
Although the different booths and activities — including a drum circle, Sikh prayer and the Portland Lesbian Choir — are important elements of the fair, Ellison’s personal favorite feature is the peace hero re-enactors.
The re-enactors dress up as their chosen historical figures and spend the day sharing their stories with fairgoers.
Although she’s a little too tall and a little too young to be mistaken for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonya Norton knew she would play Ginsburg this year.
“The things that are happening on the national level right now are so important that even before the movie came out (“RBG”), I knew that I was going as Ruth Bader Ginsburg this year,” Norton said. “It was inevitable.”
Each re-enactor carries a calling card with a little additional information about the figure they are emulating. Ginsburg’s card reads, “We have the oldest written constitution still in force in the world, and it starts out with three words, ‘We, the people.’ ”
“This is just one of the things that she said that is just terribly, terribly important,” Norton said.
Also a relatively new feature this year is the electric vehicle show, organized by Tracey Ceravolo. Ceravolo owns a used 2011 Nissan Leaf and is passionate about educating and persuading drivers to get rid of their combustion engines.
“I think people aren’t interested until you actually take the initiative to engage them,” she said.
Her husband, for example, was able to convince a friend to buy a used Leaf instead of a large truck after a test drive.
“I think people aren’t so curious because they have a lot of preconceptions,” she said.
The EV show is trying to change that. Even if like the rest of the nonprofits and groups attending the Peace and Justice Fair hoping to make the world a better place, it’s one person at a time.
