GOSHEN —
For the second month in a row, nearly three dozen community volunteers calling themselves “Ambassadors” walked the streets and sidewalks during First Fridays, welcoming festival-goers and encouraging good behavior.
Gilberto Perez Jr. and Elias Garcia worked as a team for the second month, greeting people and answering questions in the area of Main and Washington streets. A big crowd formed at that intersection, which hosted a large food tent and bleachers for spectators to the bicycles races.
“We are making the rounds, talking to people,” Perez said. “We met some people tonight who just moved here a few months ago and they enjoy First Fridays. We are trying to make it a welcoming place.”
The ambassador program was begun in March after some downtown merchants and participants expressed concerns that sidewalks were congested and crowds blocked some store doorways during recent First Fridays. They also complained about the behavior and language of some young people who may attend First Fridays without any visible parental supervision.
Ambassadors were recruited and trained by a groundswell of community support from several organizations, including LaCasa and the city’s Community Relations Commission.
The effort provides more eyes and ears and volunteers provide public relations work, rather than patrol and take the place of city police officers, explained Perez.
A group of about 30 ambassadors worked in two shifts at Friday’s event. There are about 70 volunteers ready to serve. About five people signed up each day this week, according to ambassador Kalaine Fields. The group has a goal of organizing 150 volunteers who may be willing to work three or four months each year.
Perez said the ambassador experience is different for each person. Perez, who is a social worker by profession, said some people will make eye contact with ambassadors in their red First Friday T-shirts, while others will not look at them.
But Perez is unafraid to strike up a conversation with the young and old. He greeted Tammy Landis of Elkhart, who rested on a bench Friday evening with her daughters Regan and Jenna and their friend Megan Diver. Landis said she and her family come to the Goshen event every three or four months. The young people, who are Concord students, said they only ran into one of their friends that night.
But Devon Love and Louis Macon, both Goshen seventh graders, enjoyed the company of a group of about six boys who walked around Friday.
“I like hanging out with my friends,” Love said. “I come to all First Fridays, This is like my tenth time.”
“I always like to see the entertainment,” said Macon. “I like hanging out with my friends, too.”
Macon said he understands that if a group he is in stands next to another group that is causing trouble, all the young people would get blamed for the trouble.
“Some kids know how to behave,” Love declared, defending the majority that are polite and follow the rules.
Both Macon and Love said they did not like the proposed city ordinance setting a lower curfew on First Friday nights.
“I come to First Fridays about every time,” said Denee Morton, a Goshen ninth grader. “It is fun. We hang out with friends.”
She said her group enjoys eating and shopping at Jules Boutique. She also enjoyed the fire dancer show last fall.
“I am here for every First Friday,” declared Hailey Leach, also a ninth grader. “We hang out with friends. See boys. I like the stuff they have here. And shopping.”
Local News
Related Photos
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From left; Regan Landis, Tammy Landis, Jenna Landis and Megan Diver, all of Elkhart, talk with First Friday ambassadors Gilberto Perez Jr. and Elias Garcia during the event. SAM HOUSEHOLDER
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First Fridays ambassador Gilberto Perez Jr. talks with Goshen Middle School seventh graders Louis Macon, 12, left and Deven Love, 13, right, Friday. SAM HOUSEHOLDER
Army of ambassadors welcome young and ... not quite so young to First Fridays
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