Transparency
CHICO, Calif. — After years of isolation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, local organizations Mains’l, Far Northern Regional Center, Compass, The Arc of Butte County, California Vocations, and the State Council on Developmental Disabilities are coming together to restore connection and joy through a new community event called the Festival of Friendship.
“Covid separated everyone in our community, including people with developmental disabilities, quite starkly,” said Laura Larson, president of the Rural Education Institute. “What we’re trying to do is bring people back together again for an evening of joy and delight.”
The Festival of Friendship is designed as an inclusive celebration centered on relationships that bring meaning, support, and connection. Larson described the event as intentionally simple.
“We want people to look in their lives and see who in their life is their friend, who contributes to their lives’ meaning, and who they would like to celebrate,” she said. “It’s a simple concept, and we just want to bring people together to have a meal, dance, and celebrate each other and their friendships.”
The event allows community members to nominate anyone who represents friendship in their lives. Larson emphasized that the definition is intentionally broad.
“It’s not strict,” she said. “Really, someone could nominate their little dog if they wanted to. We’re just really open to what is friendship in your life and who do you want to honor.”
Honorees will receive awards during the event, along with public recognition. “They’ll receive an award,” Larson said. “And then just the joy — people clapping and cheering — your life and the people in your life”
Attendees can expect a welcoming, social atmosphere with food, live music, and dancing.
“They’ll walk in. They’ll be welcome. They will get themselves some good food. They’ll see people that they haven’t seen in a long time,” Larson said. “We’ll have great music, live music. We’ll have our program, and then we’ll dance.”
The Festival of Friendship is hosted by the Rural Education Institute in collaboration with several regional partners, including Far Northern Regional Center. According to Sarah May, secretary of the Rural Education Institute, the event builds on decades of community-centered programming.
The institute has operated as an independent nonprofit since 1994 and “really seeks to bring people and ideas together to provide a venue for community and social engagement through events and education,” May said
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She explained that the Festival of Friendship evolved from earlier recognition events that paused during the pandemic, when “the whole world shut down” and “a lot of these wonderful gatherings came to a halt.”
“We recognized that the community truly was depressed,” May said. “There was an overall depression through this COVID and shutdown, and we were feeling and seeing the result of isolation and loneliness.”
With that in mind, organizers felt the time was right to bring people back together in person.
“I think we’re ready to all come together in person for an in-person event,” May said. “And so the Festival of Friendship was born.”
The Festival of Friendship will take place on Friday, March 13, 2026, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Card Creekside Rose Garden in Chico. The evening will include dinner, an awards ceremony, live music, and dancing.
For Larson, the event’s purpose is deeply personal.
“I just want to bring light into the world,” she said. “There’s just been too much darkness and too much heaviness. And I want to bring people together again to celebrate life and all its beauty and the people in our lives.”
She hopes the event will grow into an ongoing tradition. “We want joy,” Larson said. “We want joy, and we want dancing, and we want laughter.”