Alliance YWCA Unity Walk shows city's front against hate

ALLIANCE ‒ The fourth annual Alliance YWCA Unity Walk involved more than 80 people on Friday.

The walk, which got underway at 5 p.m., coincided with Main Street Alliance's Final Friday event in the downtown area.

The event, sponsored by Union Avenue Methodist Church, stepped off at Camelot Pocket Park at South Arch Avenue and East Main Street. It went around a couple blocks − almost a half-mile − and ended back at the park.

Stacie Bacorn, executive director of Alliance YWCA, said the event is a chance for people to show a united front against hate − a core tenet of the nonprofit agency, which stands against racism and social injustice.

She said the first walk began in 2021 in response to a hate crime − racially charged vandalism − at downtown sites including the YWCA, YMCA and the Martin Luther King Jr. viaduct.

That one was "very much a reactive response," Bacorn said, and it has blossomed into annual event, delivering the same message. The event on Friday included community and school leaders, and political candidates.

Kerry Cochrane, 68, and his wife, Chris, of Alliance, participated in their second walk.

"I believe everybody should come together and unite, and love all," Cochrane said after the event.

Helping out at the event were members of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity from University of Mount Union, who passed out water bottles, and Alliance members of the La Familia Motorcycle Club, who guarded a stretch of the walk.

For most of the event, while the group was on East Main Street, the group was barricaded for the Final Friday festivities.

Reach Benjamin Duer at 330-580-8567 or ben.duer@cantonrep.com . On X (formerly Twitter): @bduerREP .

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Alliance YWCA Unity Walk shows city's front against hate