NICK BAKER/THE POST

  A cool, cloud-mottled Sunday afternoon saw the convergence of an array of cultures and beliefs at Terry Ashe Park as the Paradise Center for Tolerance and Nonviolence celebrated its sixth annual Unity in Diversity Festival.
  Between 100 and 200 people dropped by the park for a bounce house, a silent auction. and a number of cultural dances and demonstrations.
  PCTN president Dan Johnson said the festival was the inspiration for the center in 2000.
  "After (the festival), we decided we needed to continue this energy; and from that we formed the center," he said.
  Johnson, who chaired the festival

subcommittee this year, said organizing the event gets easier each year.
  "We start probably a couple months ahead of time," he said. "First thing we need to do is get a program together, and that's the hardest thing to do, because all these people are donating their time."
  Those people included several performing acts.
  A group of children from the Hmong Cultural Center of Butte County presented several Hmong folk dances. Members of the Chico Havurah, a Jewish temple, also danced.
  Oroville resident Laurel Paulson-Pierce played a number of rousing tunes on the Swedish key fiddle, or "nyckelharpa," and Dr. Madeline Daniels of Magalia regaled the audience with a Haitian folk tale.

NICK BAKER/THE POST

  Daniels is not a native of Haiti, but a world traveler and devotee of folk tales.
  "I've traveled and worked around two-thirds of the world," she said. "I'm basically a transmitter. I learn the story in one country and how to tell it, and I take it to another and trade it for one there."
  She made her debut at last year's festival.
  "A friend of mine got sick, and I had to come and run the Native American (booth)," she said, "... so I showed up in the booth and they wound up with some (stage) time because someone didn't show up for it. And I said, 'Well, do you want a story?' and they said, 'What?' and I said, 'Just bring me my trunk. '"
  It was an entertainment filled afternoon for Paradise resident Kelly Munson, who attended the festival for the first time this year.
  "I love it," she said. "I love seeing the community come out for such a good cause and to celebrate the good nature of everybody, and see old faces' and new faces."
  Munson enjoyed the stage presentations the most.

  "It's great for my kids to see the diversity of music and the diversity of cultures that are in our local area," she said.
  Daniels said more people should come out to soak up the culture.
  "I'm disappointed in that the amount of people gets less every year, and I'm disappointed that The Post doesn't cover this kind of thing enough," she said. "And I realize there's a lot of people resistant to change, and I realize there's a lot of people that are involved in local politics - but darn it, music and dance and stories from everywhere are wonderful. So take the politics and other stuff and throw it out, and people should come enjoy themselves."
  Johnson agreed the festival wasn't political in nature.
  "We're celebrating the cultural diversity of our community, of the world, and at the same time our. oneness as a human family," he said. "We all have differences, yet we all come from the same family."


The writer can be reached at jwalsh@paradisepost.com.