Carnation Festival lunch honors community members for their service

ALLIANCE – Artist Ron Moore Jr. told an audience that art can help people overcome hardships at the Grand Alliance Carnation Festival community lunch on Saturday.

“Art was my way of escaping,” he said.

The 1986 Alliance High School graduate was the keynote speaker at the event, which took place at the Hoover-Price Campus Center at Mount Union University.

Following: Carnation Party takes place at Downtown Alliance

Growing up, Moore said he experienced many hardships, including a battle with depression. Art has become for him an important outlet because he was able to find his happiness in his paintings.

“I didn’t feel pain when I was doing artwork,” he said.

When Moore was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2004, it forced him to change the way he approached his art. He struggled for a period, but eventually found new techniques that allowed him to continue to pursue his passion. He decided to use his work to help others and started painting portraits of shooting victims to give to their families.

“Art is supposed to make an impact on people,” Moore said.

He encouraged members of the audience to believe in themselves despite any obstacles they may face and told them not to let outside factors stop them from achieving their goals.

“You are defined by your passions, not by your diagnosis,” he said.

The lunch also featured an awards show, during which several members of the community were honored for their dedication to the city and the Greater Alliance Carnation Festival.

The Grand Parade Marshal Award, which honors Alliance residents who volunteer in the community, went to Roy Tittle and Ben Thompson.

Tittle is a U.S. Army veteran who founded the Kick Drugs Out of Alliance program, a collaborative effort between the Alliance City School District and the City Police Department that teaches self-control, discipline and discipline. drug awareness through martial arts. Thompson is a former student of the KDOA program who owns Open Space Martial Arts.

Ben Favazzo Jr., longtime Alliance Area Chamber of Commerce member and former festival board member, received the Founder’s Favazzo-Jeswald Award, which honors someone for their work on the festival.

“The festival and the City of Alliance are close to my heart because obviously my father was one of the people who started this festival. It’s kind of a legacy for me to continue,” said Favazzo. Jr ..

City Health Commissioner Randall Flint received the Citizen of the Year award. Alliance Mayor Alan Andreani presented him with the honor and expressed gratitude for the Department of Health’s efforts in tracing contacts and investigating complaints of non-compliance throughout the pandemic. of COVID-19.

Contact Paige at 330-580-8577 or [email protected], or on Twitter at @paigembenn.