People get a bigger voice this year at the Capitol Hill People’s Fair-for the first time in the event’s history, it includes a soapbox for visitors to sound off on any subject.
“What we want to do is give people an opportunity to express themselves about issues that are important to them or about anything under the sun that they think is worth talking about,” said Drew O’Connor, executive director Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods, which organizes the event.
The fair runs Saturday from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. at Civic Center.
Although the fair’s major draws remain the 350 arts and crafts exhibitors and nonstop live entertainment, People Speak is an effort to return the fair to the strong civic orientation it had when it started 34 years ago, fair director Kevin Scott said.
State legislators, City Council members and representatives of city departments have been invited to set up booths in Lincoln Park.
“This gives people who come to the people’s fair an opportunity to interact with their representatives and city services providers,” O’Connor said. “They can ask a lot of questions and get a lot of good information.”
People Speak is a distant cousin to the internationally famous Speakers Corner in London’s Hyde Park, scene of thousands of speeches each year. An array of historical figures, including Karl Marx and George Orwell, have used Speakers Corner in the 133 years since it was created by Parliament.
“There are so few opportunities, it seems, for communities to kind of engage in talking among themselves rather than being talked to by either cable TV or talk radio,” he said. “I think there needs to be some places and spaces in our community for people to talk more to each other.”
People Speak will be in front of the veterans memorial in Lincoln Park.
Speakers get five minutes on the soapbox after registering their name and topic and agreeing to People Speak’s grounds rules: Be respectful and no cussing or personal attacks.
“This is Capitol Hill so somebody may get up there and sing for five minutes. We just don’t know,” Scott said.
O’Connor said any means of expression is fine as long as the rules are obeyed.
“We don’t want people to just stand up and spout off about a particular individual,” he said. “We want people to stand up and say, perhaps, ‘So and so has an idiotic policy. I don’t understand it and here is why.’ We really want to encourage some rational dialogue.”
To that end, two experienced facilitator-monitors will be on hand during People Speak, which runs Saturday noon-7 p.m. and Sunday noon-6 p.m.
O’Connor thinks this weekend could be just the beginning for People Speak. He sees the potential for quarterly sessions on the 16th Street Mall.
The civic effort also includes a food drive in partnership with Food Bank of the Rockies.
This drive boasts a twist: The food bank hooked the fair up with Canstruction, a national charity that runs competitions to create structures and statues out of packaged food.
Scott said this year’s fair will not have a contest but Intergroup Architects tonight will use canned and boxed food items to build a 10- to 12-foot- high replica of the state Capitol, complete with a golden dome.
Fairgoers can get in on the creativity.
“People who bring 12-ounce cans can help create the Star Dude, which used to be the image for the fair,” Scott said. “The cans will actually be part of that image. If you don’t bring a can in, you can just donate a dollar to the Food Bank of the Rockies and they will give you a can to put on the structure.”
The food bank welcomes donations of any kind of packaged food, Scott said.
Arts and crafts exhibitors come from around the country, while the 90 entertainment acts are locals picked out of some 250 groups that auditioned.
There are changes in the Lil’ People Fair. The popular kiddie rides are gone this year due to construction taking away some space used in previous years, Scott said.
But presenting sponsor Kaiser Permanente has created a kids’ challenge area, interactive exhibits that promote an active, healthy lifestyle. And Comcast offers the Cartoon Canopy, where kids can get out of the sun and watch ‘toons.
Staff writer Ed Will can be reached at 303-820-1694 or ewill@denverpost.com.
34th Annual CHUN Capitol Hill People’s Fair
FESTIVAL|Civic Center, Broadway and Colfax Avenue; noon-8 p.m. Saturday and noon-7 p.m. Sunday |FREE|peoplesfair.com|Most bus routes coming into downtown Denver will be affected; for details, call RTD at 303-299-6000 or rtd-denver.com.
