ValleyCAST, the arts and culture arm of Open Sky Community Services, in collaboration with the Yellow Tulip Project will be hosting their annual Yellow Tulip Gardens Hope Day Celebration on Wednesday, May 1 from 1:00-3:00 PM at the Dennis H. Rice Community Plaza. This free event is a celebration of resilience, joy, wellbeing, and community and the public is welcome and encouraged to attend. If it rains, the celebration will move indoors to the Singh Performance Center at the same location.

The Annual Hope Day Celebration brings people together to celebrate hope, smash the stigma around mental illness, and bring suicide prevention, mental health awareness, and resources for recovery to the community in anticipation of May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This year’s celebration will feature live music by The Blackstone Valley Quartet, a story of recovery by Christen Mahoney-Pick, wellness offerings, art making, resource information, and a chance to admire our yellow tulip Hope Garden in full bloom. 

In collaboration with Yellow Tulip Project, ValleyCAST board members and staff, along with community members from the Whitin Community Center, Blackstone Heritage Corridor, and NOWA Peer Recovery Support Center, planted their first Yellow Tulip Hope Garden with 500 tulips at the Alternatives’ Whitin Mill in the fall of 2020. This has since inspired the planting of yellow tulip gardens at the Whitin Community Center, The Rockdale Youth Center, Douglas Primary School, NOWA, the Whitinsville Common, Worcester City Hall, The Heartwell Institute, and as far away as the Town Common in Southbridge, MA.

After the Hope Day event, people are encouraged to take a short walk to the Whitin Community Center, 60 Main Street, Whitinsville MA and the Whitinsville Town Common to see three more yellow tulip Hope Gardens planted by the Whitin Community Center, the Women’s Success Network, the local 4H Club, and Girls On The Run Worcester County with over 1500 yellow tulips planted in all. 

The Yellow Tulip Project is a Maine based, youth driven, non-profit that is fiercely dedicated to suicide prevention, mental health stigma reduction, community building, and helping people know that there is help and hope out there … one yellow tulip at a time. To learn more about the Yellow Tulip Project and how to plant your own Yellow Tulip Hope Garden go to www.theyellowtulipproject.org.

To learn more about ValleyCAST and/or Open Sky Community Services and their events and services please visit openskycs.org.