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As Canadian geese settled in for the night around the pond at Loomiller Park in central Longmont, dozens of Americans gathered to find a moment of peace on Sunday.
The first ever Lanterns around Loomiller event brought locals together to honor Martin Luther King Jr. on his birthday weekend. But in the same week of a tumultuous inauguration, the same month of an armed insurrection of the U.S. Capitol and the same year as a worldwide pandemic, a deeper meaning emerged for those that attended.
"I went to the first lumineerian (downtown, last month) and I just felt connected to people, you know, when you're staying home alone," said Bonnie Gutierrez of Longmont. "Also Martin Luther King means a lot to me and I just want to support what he's about. I think it's perfect that it's falling right now. I think we really need it."
Gutierrez was one of the participants who read quotes from Martin Luther King. Amy Heneghan of the Left Hand Artists Group, the event organizer, also read statements from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Congressman John Lewis, who both passed away in 2020. While the crowd appeared to be largely made up of white people, the event focused on the oppression of minorities.
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Longmont residents gather to celebrate MLK Day with lanterns. By Matt Maenpaa
"This is extremely important right now," Heneghan told the masked crowd. "To kind of be the light going forward. When I moved to Longmont four years ago, right after the election there were swastikas carved in this playground right here and hate was rising. I felt like I had to do something to counteract the hate and the ugliness.
Henegan's first project was the "positvi-tree," also located in Loomiller Park.
"I'm so grateful to see this amazing crowd," she said.
Heneghan handed the microphone to Tony Kindelspire, who read his poem, "Darkness, Meet Light," which was an urgent call for love and understanding. Later, Valerie Bhat led the crowd in an earnest version of Lean on Me by Bill Withers, another lost soul from the previous year.
Participants countered the darkness with their own lumineers in a socially-distanced semi-circle over a bridge and around the pond. Heneghan hopes to make this an annual event that has room to grow.
The crowd grew quiet. They slowly departed into the night with the memories of the wisdom of the departed and the hopes of the living.
"Hate better watch out, because love is throwing elbows," Kindelspire recited. "America's imperfect, but she'll survive. That experiment that is democracy will stay alive. And if that offends you, it's best you move along. Because love beating hate is an American song."
