Heritage Events are cultural, historical, and active outdoor learning experiences staged around a calendar holiday. These events elevate and celebrate key individuals of history through storytelling, tying it all into an outdoor experience supported by Love is King and its community partners. Our strategy is straddling the urban and outdoor world, creating a ‘bridge’ from the urban city community into a local park called Forest Park in Portland. This strategy allows us to create a safe space in nature for BIPOC communities to experience the outdoors and enjoy the healing powers of nature, all while feeling relaxed without having to face possible aggression of racism, bigotry, and ignorance. Aggression against BIPOC individuals in the outdoors creates fear and leaves people of color very hesitant to be in nature. Heritage Events bring BIPOC communitIes into nature to help overcome this fear and to support and connect them to the outdoors by creating welcoming access and a safety net.
