Advocacy and fun combine at Recovery Palooza

Members of the recovery community will come together to celebrate Recovery Palooza on Saturday at Riverside Park. The event is organized by Focus Recovery and Wellness Community. Cassie Knutson, the organization's program lead, said they renamed their annual event this year. It was previously known as the Recovery March. Saturday's event will still feature a march. But Knutson said the event also features a picnic and other activities, so they wanted a name that encompassed all of it. Knutson said the march part of the day will be a type of advocacy — showing that people in recovery are out there, and should not be stigmatized. But part of the "Palooza" is also simply a celebration. Knutson said people in recovery "deserve to be celebrated … Recovery can also be fun," and not just hard work. The keynote speaker is Timber Hawkeye, who creates the podcast Buddhist Boot Camp and is the author of several books. Knutson said Hawkeye was selected because he is inclusive of the entire recovery community — not only those in recovery from substance use or from mental health issues, but everyone who is in recovery. "We wanted to kind of embrace everybody this year," she said. The celebration of the recovery community will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Riverside Park. Mayor Christina Muryn will give a proclamation at 9:35 a.m., followed by keynote speaker Hawkeye at 9:45 a.m. A recovery walk will be held at 10:30 a.m., followed by speaker Claire Osborne at 11:20 a.m. Osborne, program manager at Focus, will share her own recovery story. Food will be served at noon, followed by a raffle, programming and fellowship. It's a family-friendly event that will include face painting and games for children, as well as crafts. "It's important to show the community that people do recover," Knutson said. And she said the event is also meant to illustrate that recovery is for everybody. Even if you don't think of yourself as someone in recovery, there are likely parts of it you can relate to, she said. "We've all struggled in life," she said. "We've all had some kind of trauma." Hawkeye is the bestselling author of Buddhist Boot Camp, Faithfully Religionless, and The Opposite of Namaste. His books and podcast "offer a secular mindfulness practice to be at peace with the world (both within and around us)," his website states. Knutson said Hawkeye does draw from Buddhist ideas, but not exclusively. "Mindfulness" is always a part of what he talks about, though, she said. Knutson added that Hawkeye speaks on topics like what to do about negative thoughts, or how to deal with heartache. Hawkeye will also speak from 5:30-7 p.m. Saturday at The Lavender Hour, a yoga studio, boutique and wellness community located at 221 Broadway St. "Discover the benefits of mindfully living at peace with the world (both within and around us)," reads a Lavender Hour social media post about the event. "Mindfulness doesn't make other people less irritating, it makes us less irritable. It's not about living in a bubble where nobody pushes your buttons, it's about getting to a point where you don't have any buttons that can be pushed."