Free performances by local bands, singers, poets and speakers will highlight the second annual Peace in the Park festival scheduled for Saturday, April 25, from noon to 6 p.m. in DeKalb’s Hopkins Park.

The NIU/DeKalb County Freeze Campaign will be hosting the event, which is considered “a day when both students and area residents could get together and celebrate something we all hold dear—peace,” said Elizabeth Johnson, coordinator of the DeKalb County Freeze Campaign.

Events scheduled for the afternoon include performances by local bands Art Deco and Cheap Seats, folk singers Tom Walters, Liz Burns, and Dave Williams, and pantomime artist Bret Hamilton. A puppet show featuring the skills of puppet master Dieter Cheez is also on the itinerary.

“Throughout the course of the day, various people, including myself, Liz Johnson, Freeze member Bill Mellman and Gay/Lesbian Union co-president Paul Schmig will be speaking on peace-related topics,” said Peace in the Park Chairman John Eaton.

“I will be discussing the Freeze Campaign itself, Star Wars (Strategic Defense Initiative), and the money that this country spends on nuclear weapons,” Mellman said. “We’re an educational group, but mainly Peace in the Park is a celebration for those who are in the Freeze and for those who support us,” he added.

Schmig said his speech would deal basically with how important a peaceful environment is to the development of an improved quality of life for all people.

“I spend so much of my time trying to create a better life for primarily gays and lesbians, but also for all minorities; but if the world isn’t at peace, then that improved quality of life cannot exist,” Schmig said.

Other groups participating in the event are the Northern Illinois Peace Action Coalition, The John Lennon Society and the Interfaith Network. Groups interested in participating in the event can contact John Eaton.

“We have invited a number of organizations, such as the Black Student Union, and the National Organization for Women to take part in Peace in the Park this year,” Eaton said. “If there was a halt in the arms race now, there would be more money to aid minorities and women, so those groups have an interest as well,” he added.

A free shuttle service, run by the Freeze Campaign, will be available throughout the day, leaving Hopkins Park every hour with stops at Hillcrest and Normal, Hillcrest and Blackhawk, Lincoln Hall, Spring Show (Chick Evans Fieldhouse), the Holmes Student Center, Spring Fest (College Avenue across from Still Gym), and downtown DeKalb (Locust and Second).

“Vegetarian and non-vegetarian food will be on sale for a nominal fee, and there will also be a book sale, and an art fair featuring the displays of local and NIU artists,” Eaton said.