About 15 people gathered in front of Moscow City Hall in a “Moment of Peace” to express gratitude towards the city and preach peace last Sunday.
“Across our state, leaders are making tough choices and they’re hearing a lot of negativity. I think we should spread positivity,” Lacey Coy Watkins, one of the event organizers, said.
Once everyone had congregated, Sage Francetich, the other event organizer, took a knee and led the group in a five-minute moment of silence. The moment of silence, Watkins said, was to unite people and show respect.
“There’s just static and noise everywhere… sometimes just being quiet can bring people together,” Watkins said.
Watkins and Francetich only knew each other through “friends of friends on Facebook,” Watkins said, and within the last few days realized they shared an interest in civic engagement. The two met in person for the first time at the event.
This gathering was “not really pro-anything, it’s just a showing of gratitude and appreciation for all the public workers,” Francetich said, in contrast to recent anti-mask protests and counter-protests downtown.
Neither Watkins or Francetich said they had thought about hosting future events.
Cody Roberts can be reached at [email protected].