Journey of Hope Festival 2026
Saturday, September 26th, 12-3PM, SLO Public Market
The Journey of Hope Festival is a free community event focused on youth and young adult mental health.
We will be hosting our event on Saturday, September 26th from 12-3pm at the SLO Public Market.
We invite and encourage all community members to attend to help celebrate the wonderful individuals, resources, and resiliency of our area. Please see below for an overview of the free activities we will be offering at the event.
PASSPORTS & SUCCULENTS
This year, we are going to include passports. Participants who receive at least 10 stamps on their passport will have their passport checked by a volunteer and will receive a free pot and succulent from our Growing Grounds Farm and Nursery. Attendees can participate in our Growing Grounds Art Station located on the upstairs patio where they can pot their succulent and paint their pot with the provided materials. We will include a photo op area created with balloons from the amazing House of Balloons. In addition to the Growing Grounds station, we will include an art table with coloring sheets and art supplies.
CANVAS OF HOPE
In the courtyard, we are creating a Journey of Hope Canvas. We will have scratch paper that participants can use to write about what makes them feel hopeful or what brings them hope. A designated calligraphy volunteer will then take the responses and draw/paint them on the canvas as we receive them. At the end of the event, we will have a completed canvas with the participants' responses of what makes them feel hopeful that we will hang up in our Wellness Centers.
RESOURCE FAIR
Our resource fair will be open throughout the event and will include 30 local organizations, as well as therapy dogs and lawn games.
SPEECHES AND PERFORMANCES
Cate Armstrong will be performing from 12-1pm. We will then have our student speaker portion from 1-2pm. Our speakers include local youth who will be sharing a brief speech about their mental health journey and story of resiliency. Following our student speakers, we will close out the event with a performance by The Sweet Spots.
Last year, we had over 700 people attend throughout the event, and we hope you are one of them this year!