The Mighty Kindness Hootenanny started 9 years ago by Aim Me and Renee who are better known as The Troubadours of Divine Bliss. The Troubs have always spread their message of love, acceptance, peace and kindness for as long as they've been performing and everywhere they go. The Mighty Kindness Hoot, as it is now called, will be at The Brown-Forman Amphitheatre in Waterfront Park on June 11, 2016 from 12pm-7pm featuring live music, food trucks, kids activities, artists and artisans, yoga classes and a whole bunch more. I recently caught up with The Troubs to find out how this festival came to be and where they'd like to see it go in the future.
Laura Shine: How did you all come up with the idea for a kindness festival and what is a "kindness festival"?
Troubadours of Divine Bliss: Mighty Kindness is a community unity organization run by a small group of open-hearted visionaries. It all started back in 2008 with the desire of inspiring a strong circle of sustainability and connection by creating a community celebration with a cause. We were becoming aware of so many amazing organizations, products and services that were sharing offerings that were kind to individuals, the community and the Earth. We had the idea to bring all those folks together in celebration of all the goodness being offered and create a space where they could network and reinforce each other’s endeavors. Our vision is and has been to create a model for a society that supports local farms, businesses, healers, artists, community groups and Evolutionaries who all have the same hope at heart…KINDNESS. This is a Kindness to ourselves, to each other, to the Earth. This is a kindness in our leaders, in our creations and work. A kindness in all things is what the Hoot hopes to share and bring!
LS: Now in your 9th year, what have been the greatest challenges and the greatest rewards?
TODB: The Mighty Kindness Hoot Festival is run completely by volunteers. It is rewarding to have such loyal folks devote themselves to this celebration with a cause. It is rewarding to have the community come out in force to reinforce this vision that when we are kind to ourselves, each other and the Earth, we strengthen our commonwealth. The greatest challenge is that The Hoot has grown mightier every year. We would value more volunteers to help us accommodate all the efforts it takes to organize and promote the festival and to support the community that comes out the day of the festival, in droves, to celebrate kindness.
LS: What would you like to see the festival become in the future? Any big plans for Hoot number 10?
TODB: Our hope has always been that the Hoot would be an inspiring template to show us how we can coexist with and support all the facets of our kind community. We keep dreaming and scheming of ways to make all the magic that gets stirred into hearts on Hoot day mightier and mightier. It is our vision that this one day shows the kindest of ways that we can be together in this life.
