The 13th Annual Unity Festival
Unity Festival Mission
The Unity Festival is a community development project designed to raise the level of
diversity acceptance in our county by using music, storytelling, drama, dance and visual art to explore diverse cultures and races at a free, family-oriented celebration and by creating an environment that encourages cross-cultural friendships and relationships of trust.
Unity Festival History
The first Unity Festival was created by the Baha'i community in April of 1992 to focus
attention on racial and cultural unity while the KKK was marching in downtown Boone and Blowing Rock. This festival, attended by over 300 people of all ages and races, became one of the highlights of Watauga County's first "Unity Week", a series of 14 unity-building events sponsored by area churches, organizations, individuals and the ASU Student Government Association. These events together attracted 1,300 participants.
In response to the Watauga community's request for an annual unity event, the Watauga County Arts Council joined the 1992 Unity Week organizers to coordinate "Unity Month '93", featuring an "Up With People" performance and a newly created Community Unity Choir as its major events. Over 1,000 Watauga residents attended this group of concerts, children's festivities, lectures, movies, and discussion groups.
The second Unity Festival was again coordinated by the Baha'i, community with the support of the First Baptist Church, the Watauga County Arts Council and many other individuals and organizations as a part of Unity Month '94. Nearly 1,000 people attended 20 uplifting music, art, dance, storytelling, lecture and discussion programs that year.
From 1995 through 1997, no large-scale unity events were held. In 1998, many individuals who had been involved in the unity weeks and months of the early 90's formed the I Have A Dream Task Force. With strong support from the Watauga County Arts Council, this task force began crafting its annual "I Have A Dream Week" to coordinate with the Martin Luther King holiday. The Baha'i, community joined this effort by sponsoring Unity Festivals at the Boone Mall in 1999, 2000 and 2001. In late 2001, prompted by the 9/11 tragedy, several churches and community organizations joined the Baha'is as Unity Festival sponsors, adding diversity, strength and sustainability to the Unity Festival project, along with a new home for the 2002, 2003, and 2004 festivals. In 2006 the Unity Festival joined forces with the Diversity Celebration. Since then, it has become the hub of family friendly entertainment for the event, with a constant array of artists and activities from 3:00 - 9:00pm on the day of the Celebration, in Blue Ridge Ballroom of Plemmons Student Union.
