YOUNGSTOWN — Offerings at a celebratory festival included free plant seeds — although those who attended also freely called for a greater emphasis on community building — eco-friendliness and support for a more sustainable planet to further sprout and grow.

“I hope people take back hope and a desire to come together as a community organized for labor and for the environment, and that they practice tolerance and embrace people of all intersections of difference,” said Daphne Carr, a co-organizer of today’s Youngstown May Day Festival at the Calvin Center for the Arts, 755 Mahoning Ave.

The free, five-hour indoor and outdoor gathering featured a variety of workshops and discussions on diverse topics such as Medicare for everyone, organized labor and the workforce in the Mahoning Valley, sustainable gardening practices, mutual aid, fighting medical discrimination regarding those suffering from HIV, organizing around redistricting in Ohio and ending voter-suppression efforts.

In addition, information was available on urban reforestation, workers’ rights and the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking.

Read more in Sunday’s Vindicator.