The Sundance Festival, the most prominent independent cinema event in the United States, presents both domestic and foreign autonomous creators and takes place annually. Each year, two of the best American football sides face off in the Super Bowl in front of a vast crowd, and it is as American as cornmeal and grilled chicken. Every year in New Orleans, Mardi Gras is a magnificent, energetic festival with live performances and delectable food. Such is the realm of record holders, where the technically impressive, the horribly foolish, and the hysterically absurd are painstakingly documented in the Guinness Book of Records, the pinnacle of extraordinary achievements. Enter the Together-As-One Event, which aims to challenge the world record of the largest independent festival. This is the story of the activities the Together-As-One event performs to make it the biggest festival in the country.
Spending time with loved ones, colleagues, and various community members while fostering healthy relationships is the major objective of Together-As-One event. Malcom Breeda, the event’s organizer said, “Community members from all backgrounds are invited to the Together-As-One event to enhance their bonds.” These connections lessened the personal challenges and improved mental health of locals. The festival also influenced how children and adults related to one another, manage distress, and make healthy decisions. Therefore, the event maintained the mental health of people and made them become resilient, mature into well-rounded, healthy individuals, and learn to deal with anything life throws at them.
Community event organizers will require assistance setting up, conducting, and advertising them, whether they are public, family-friendly, or priced festivals. The Together-As-One event planners take advantage of this chance to highlight the neighborhood’s small businesses. By hiring locals, the event encourages the community to embrace these small enterprises and help them generate cash. “Locally managed businesses, as opposed to chain stores, recycle a far more significant portion of their money directly into the community economy, enhancing the entire town,” Breeda stated. Most of the locals were excited since the event attracts entrepreneurship from nearby towns, resulting in additional cash that benefits the neighborhood. This generates additional jobs that go to locals, who would likely face stiffer competition at a large retail establishment.
Establishing a distinct sense of place is crucial, especially in smaller communities. Due to the town’s tiny size, the Together-As-One event serves to bring neighbors together, preserve long-standing customs, and establish new ones. The festival also aids in luring in new guests by showcasing the town’s distinctive features. According to Breeda, “Community-based tourism has emerged as a result of this event. The program ensures that the locals have complete control over the management of the visitors encounter and that the financial gains from tourism stay in the city.” In addition, this fosters a tremendous sense of community pride. The community’s sense of satisfaction motivated its members to maintain the neighborhoods properly. Residents participate in fundraisers out of a sense of civic duty to assist small, autonomous businesses in their area.
The ultimate goal of holding the community event is to make the neighborhood remember the occasion. The Together-As-One festival unites individuals of the town continuously from unique common memories, regardless of ethnicity, sexuality, or age, and not simply showcasing what the area has to offer. The event, a fun-filled appreciation of local traditions, brings history to life because the town has a rich heritage and distinctive past. Additionally, Breeda ensures that historical food, trades, crafts, and other forms of entertainment are displayed while honoring indigenous art and culture. “The most effective treatment for maintaining the participants’ psychological state and well-being is enjoyment brought about by these amusement activities.” said Breeda.
The scope and severity of the current condition of ecological deterioration and its effects on coming generations are now of more significant worry to the global community. The Together-As-One event offers the best opportunities for fostering community relationships and enhancing educational opportunities. “The community may have fun while gaining information about environmental issues and implementing sustainable habits courtesy of the efforts of many volunteers,” Breeda said. Since many rely on the ecosystem for their livelihoods, protecting it is imperative. Approximately 1.7 billion people depend on the environment for food, housing, and medicine (Erbaugh and Oldekop 80). Several of Breeda’s environmentalist friends were present and informed the locals on conservation initiatives such as drip irrigation and water filtration were offered as examples.
Organizing and carrying out the community activities called for perseverance, ingenuity, adaptability to changing ideas, and a passion for the profession. Despite the Together-As-One event promoting local awareness, serving as a springboard for participation and change, and fostering a sense of community it did not make to the Guinness book of records. However, the organizers continue holding the festival twice a year by bringing in people and business owners from outside the area to boost the local economy. Breeda said, “A town’s s economy benefits when its enterprises and residents are made more well-known to tourists and newcomers, as well as when residents are bonded together.” He invited specialists to provide the community with reliable information about environmentally friendly practices. The event affects the locals indirectly and directly through the chances they offer for involvement, developing skills, and volunteerism.
Work Cited
Erbaugh, James, and Johan, Oldekop. “Forest Landscape Restoration for Livelihoods and Well-being.” Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, vol. 32, no. 4, 2018, pp. 76-83.