On March 2, Yahso Jamaican Grill partnered with a handful of Stonehill College graduates and the Keene State Black Student Union to put on a Togetherness Festival. This festival was the celebration of music, reciting poetry and spoken word, and food.
Gail Somers, who gave the closing remarks for the festival, said that its “human nature to survive … People are surviving and it goes way way way back.”
The Togetherness Festival’s main goal was to celebrate diversity and inclusion in Keene. It also was meant to bring together all walks of life. Somers described diversity and togetherness as always being something people struggled with.
Tricia Deminardo, a Keene native who now lives in Londonderry, N.H., was part of the lively audience. She explained while Michael Kennedy, one of the speakers of the event, was the main reason she attended the event, there was also the hope that, “Little white New Hampshire, which it isn’t, can be more open.”
Deminardo added her grandparents came from Italy and Ireland so to her, the judgment and exclusivity is no different.
“What Irish dance looked peculiar to the people there, is the dance that looked peculiar to the people here. It can’t be stagnant; its waves and it has to keep moving,” Deminardo said.
Additionally, Deminardo feels it is necessary in Keene and other places to accept and indulge in diversity.
“You can like your favorite thing,” Deminardo said. “My favorite thing is chocolate ice cream, but I am more than willing to listen to how your favorite is vanilla or strawberry.”
Graduate of Stonehill College Brittany Savage said, “I have a very diverse group of friends and they all have very different talents and I think we just really wanted to show that.”
Savage said opportunities once you graduate college are few and far between and at times, being exposed to diversity in Southern New Hampshire can also feel that way.
As for future plans, Savage said, “Just keep an eye out … Gail [Somers] said something about doing something bigger, somewhere bigger yet still including Yahso, next year … We really want to give people that creative outlet they don’t tend to get after college.”
McKenzie French can be contacted at
mfrench@kscequinox.com
