Bif Naked will be headlining the first ever Recovery Day Festival in New Westminster.
The Recovery Day Vancouver Society is hosting the fifth annual Recovery Day B.C., which features a street festival in uptown New Westminster on Saturday, Sept. 10, from 2 to 6 p.m. Along with a performance by Naked and her full rock show, the festival will feature a family/kids zone, a street fair with more than 40 vendors and service providers discussing recovery options, local entertainment such as the R&B All Stars and a wellness centre that includes TEDx style speakers discussing the many pathways to recovery.
Recovery Day B.C. aims to celebrate Canadians in recovery with the purpose of “ending the stigma” and showing that people do recover from addiction and families can heal.
“A lot of people, when they think of addiction, they think of homeless people and donating to the downtown eastside, when really that’s the smallest percentage of addiction. It’s the most visible,” said Giuseppe Ganci, chair of the Recovery Day board. “Addiction is in the working class families as well. This is a celebration of people who get their lives back together again and find recovery.”
The society has held a Recovery Day rally in Vancouver for the past five years, but this is the group’s first street festival. New Westminster, home to some well-known recovery programs and numerous 12-step meetings, seemed to be the perfect place to hold the festival.
“New West is considered the recovery capital of Canada. Recovery Day was kind of losing its steam so a couple of us in New West took the event and turned it into what it could be,” Ganci told the Record. “Now, it has turned into a street festival. It’s got all the excitement and craziness and oh-my-god factors that a new festival should have.”
The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse and the National Recovery Advisory Committee will be attending the event to share a preview of key findings from a Canadian survey examining life in recovery in Canada. The survey gathered information on life experiences of individuals in recovery from addiction to alcohol and drugs, including the personal journeys and differing pathways that exist for Canadians.
A press release about Recovery Day states that the organizations are sharing the preview of the survey’s findings as a first step to building a deeper understanding and compassion for people living through addiction and recovery. The development of the Survey of Life in Recovery from Addiction in Canada is part of the Recovery Day Vancouver Society’s ongoing efforts to bring people and organizations together to build awareness, challenge social stigma and celebrate the role that recovery plays in improving the lives of individuals, families and communities.
The festival will take place in the area around Sixth Avenue/Sixth Street and Belmont streets on Saturday, Sept. 10.
