NILES — A Saturday event meant to bring out the diversity and unity of the Niles community is coming July 20 to Plym Park.

The Community Wide Fun Fest, running from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., is hosted by the group Helping Our People Evolve. The event is meant to be for the faithful and faithless; the young and old; and for all races and ethnicities, said Beverley Woodson, co-founder and co-director of HOPE.

Her counterpart, Doug Freeman, agreed. He said the idea for the event came from a need in the community.

“We felt that there was a divide, and we wanted to eliminate a lot of the misconceptions of the people of faith and just regular people that might not be so faith-inclined,” he said.

HOPE, a group that seeks to serve all community members in a variety of ways, has hosted an event at Plym before. Summer 2018’s Praise in the Park featured praise teams, praise dancers, choirs and testimonials of empowerment.

Woodson said the event went well, but she wanted to expand past praise, so as to be welcoming to those who are not frequently practicing Christians.

“We want it to be so diverse that people from all walks of life will come out and enjoy,” she said.

So, the Community Wide Fun Fest was created. Although HOPE wanted to encourage youth turnout with the event, Woodson said its offerings are collectively engaging for all age demographics.

Games like chess, hula hooping, sack races, dominoes, cards and playground play will all be provided.

So will food. While attendees can bring their own lunches or make use of the park’s grills, Cynthia Gallero-Greer of Katharos Catering will be serving food at the event.

Up to 12 vendors of color will also be in attendance, like those selling jewelry and décor for interior design.

“Vendors that are coming will have a chance to sell their wares and also push the economic importance of people of color,” Freeman said. “We’re very glad to give a vehicle for entrepreneurs in our city.”

The biggest moments of the day for many, Freeman and Woodson said, are the individuals delivering their messages and performances to event attendees.

“We’re trying to get some performers that are nontraditional, meaning that they’re something that people are not used to seeing,” Freeman said.

Included is Isaac Hunt Jr., the group violence intervention specialist supervisor for Goodwill Industries of Michiana. He will speak on ways to help prevent children from going to prison and jail and to help those that have went from going back.

HOPE is seeking to have violinist Joshua Hicks perform during the event. Freeman said he hopes Hicks will come because he feels that many people have never seen a black violinist before.

Regardless of the reason why people attend the event, Woodson hopes people will be inspired to come together.

“We hope that they will leave with some positiv[ity] for what’s going on in Niles, where we can come together and be a diverse community,” she said. “That one word is so important: ‘diverse.”’

Freeman had a similar sentiment.

“Unity equals power,” he said. “What I mean by ‘power’ is the power to change. I’m hoping this will inspire them to come together in a unified spirit to deal with some of the injustices and some of the things we need to deal with.”

HOPE has other goals scheduled for the summer. Its directors hope to continue working with the Niles-Buchanan YMCA and help secure scholarships so that children from low-income households can attend summer camps.

The two also hope to work with Niles Community Schools superintendent Dan Applegate to bring more diversity into the district’s teaching staff.