Brian Hagberg
WARREN, Pa. – Downtown Warren will be bustling with activities on Friday with vendors and mental health providers offering goods, services, and education all in the name of suicide prevention education.
CORE (Choosing Openness Regarding Experiences) is hosting a Sidewalk Sale/Suicide Prevention Education Day from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sept. 23. Liberty Street and Second Avenue will be closed to through traffic for the event, beginning on Thursday night.
“This event’s goal is to get people downtown to support our area businesses as well as to support CORE’s mission to provide mental health and suicide prevention education in Warren County,” CORE founder Kari Swanson said. “There are over 25 vendors that are coming in to set up in the streets in addition to the store managers setting up on the sidewalks outside their stores.”
The event will also have a kid’s area with bouncy houses, face painting, sidewalk chalk, and other activities. School therapy dogs Olive and Hero will be on-hand after 4 p.m.
A designated area, set for the gazebo near McKissock, will be reserved for sessions on mental health and other activities. Mental health providers will have booths set up in this area as well.
“There will be a separate area designated for mental health talks and activities such as a pound class, yoga demonstrations, mindfulness techniques, and more,” Swanson said.
The full schedule of events follows:
8 – 8:45 a.m. — Committee meets and starts setting up
8:45 – 10 a.m. — Vendors arrive and set up
10 a.m. – 8 p.m. — Vendors open
10 a.m. – 8 p.m. — Basket Raffle tickets sold
10:30 a.m. — Kari Swanson and Pastor Hecht welcome everyone and talk about CORE
2 p.m. — Hannah Pearson—YMCA—Yoga Poses Demo
2:30 p.m. — Kristian Bosko— Peace, Love and Wellness—Thai Massage Demo & Life Coaching Talk
3 p.m. — Kelly Wright—Peace, Love and Wellness—Yoga
3:30 p.m. — Erin Wallace—YMCA—Whole Health Talk & Mindfulness Demo
4 p.m. — Warren High Cheerleaders; Hero the Therapy Dog; Fairy Tale Troupe
4:30 p.m. — Erin Richardson & Olivia Zawacki—Pound Demonstration
5 p.m. — Greeting from Kari and Pastor Hecht
5 – 7 p.m. — Olive the Therapy Dog
5:30 p.m. — Molly Dies Dancers
6 – 8 p.m. —Sweet Jane
8 p.m. — Raffle basket winners drawn and announced
