30th Annual Community Peace Celebration

30th Annual Community Peace Celebration

This year’s Community Peace Celebration marks a historic milestone: three decades of grassroots resilience, unity, and art in our neighborhoods. Originally founded in 1997 in response to violence in the Frogtown neighborhood, the 30th Annual Community Peace Celebration carries an especially profound significance as we gather for the first time since the passing of our beloved founder, Elder Melvin Giles, who left us last year.

Known affectionately as Mr. Bubles the “Peaceful Love Warrior,” Elder Melvin spent 29 years cultivating this sacred, grassroots space, blowing bubbles to bridge community divides and planting peace poles to anchor hope in our local soil. As we step onto the grounds of The People’s Park (Carty Park), we gather not just in his memory, but in his rooted presence, rising in the shape of his love and continuing the vital work of planting peace. Come break bread, share a free community meal, blow bubbles into the sky, and celebrate our diverse cultural fabric. Together, we carry the torch forward, remembering Melvin’s enduring reminder: there is always still more loving to do, more bubbles to blow, and more peace to plant.

Main Stage

The main stage will breathe life into this ancestral legacy through a lineup of artists, healers, and cultural protectors. The celebration will include with a heartfelt performance by the traditional Mexica-Nahua (Aztec) family group Kalpulli Yaocenoxtli, offering sacred songs and dances as a direct tribute to Elder Melvin Giles and inviting attendees to connect deeply with their Indigenous roots.

The healing journey continues with Vibe Temple Collective, who will guide the crowd through a soulful sound journey blending acoustic guitar, handpan, hip-hop flows, and breathwork and yoga techniques designed to soften the nervous system. Renowned performing artist Dr. Sheronda Orridge will then restore the village tradition of storytelling through a powerful blend of motivational speaking, melodic rap, and conscious spoken word that inspires communities to find their voices and move into action.

Bringing dynamic energy and pride, the Twin Cities Dance Crew (TCDC) will showcase a high-energy performance centered around racial equality, independence, and the resilience to overcome life’s obstacles. Culture protector Tearra Oso closes the stage with an interactive performance fusing mind-body healing with traditional Afro-Boricua Bomba drumming, song, and dance.

Featured Community Resources and Exhibitors

• Alliance Wellness Center: Providing culturally specific recovery, treatment connections, and substance use prevention resources, with a historical focus on serving East African, Somali, and Black communities.

• ComMUSICation: Amplifying youth voices and sharing information on equitable afterschool music programs, including registration for their free summer Gospel Choir Camp for youth in grades 3 through 12.

• Friends for a NonViolent World (FNVW): Fostering peace and conflict transformation by providing valuable information on local non-violence workshops.

• Laura Jeffrey Academy: Engaging kids and families with microscope investigations and a trivia wheel hosted by this gender-inclusive, feminist-focused STEM charter school.

• LifeSource: Offering community education and trust-building around organ, eye, and tissue donation awareness.

• Metro Food Justice Network: Hosting interactive activities focused on food justice and collective power to transform the local food system and advance racial equity.

• Open Cities Health Center: Offering blood pressure and heart health education, clinic resource guidance, and critical overdose awareness education with harm reduction items like naloxone and test strips.

• Ramsey County Public Health: Bringing their mobile health van to the park to provide free, confidential access to wellness resources, testing, and care.

• Saint Paul Public Library: Bringing the Mobile Library on wheels, where neighbors can make library cards, borrow books or DVDs, participate in kids' crafts, and receive free Summer Spark books.

• Union Gospel Mission Twin Cities: Celebrating neighborhood legacy and sharing community updates on the reopening of their Child Development Center.

Be Part of the Movement

Whether you’ve been with us since the first Peace Pole journeyed through St. Paul or this is your first time at the People's Park, you belong here. Help us celebrate 30 years of resilience, inclusion, and the self-determined spirit of the Rondo and Frogtown community. Visit communitypeacecelebration.org/get-involved 

Thank you to our 2026 Peace Partners:

The 30th Annual Community Peace Celebration is made possible through the generous support of our community partners and sponsors.

• Indigenous Roots

• Urban Farm and Garden Alliance

• Human Nature

• Frogtown Farm

• Twin Cities Agricultural Land Trust

• Community Stabilization Project

• BornVerse LLC

• Capitol Region Watershed District