Festival’s Voices Join in Harmony for Peace and Friendship : Community spirit: Gathering at Mission College seeks a pledge from participants that they will work to quell the violence ravaging L.A. and the world at large.

A rally for peace at Mission College in Sylmar may have had a small turnout, but although the field the speakers were addressing may have been nearly empty, their hopes were not.

“Next year I can see this field covered with thousands of people,” said Larry E. Grant, one of the speakers at the Harmony/Unity Festival on Saturday afternoon, which included food, music and speeches about how to bring people together and end violence.

Each person who attended the rally was asked to sign a personal pledge to “extend my hand in peace and friendship to my fellow human being.” Organizers had hoped for a large turnout Saturday, but just a handful of people had arrived by early afternoon.

The Harmony Coalition was founded in December by Arthur Stevens, a financial services salesman, who said at the rally, “About a year ago it looked like the whole world was disintegrating” because of violence throughout Los Angeles and the world. He formed the coalition to make a difference and opened up a food bank in Chatsworth in December.

Each pledge signed Saturday was a “vote for change,” he said.

Many of those who attended the rally spoke highly of Stevens and his effort.

“I believe in his cause,” said Evelyn Perez, a teacher at Sylmar Elementary School, who talked about the fear she felt when her son, who goes to Olive Vista Middle School, once came home talking about a shooting that happened nearby.

“When I see someone working so hard to bring people together, I want to make time to be here for him,” said Perez, who brought her daughter, Nanette, to the rally. “We need to have more peaceful events.”

After signing the pledge of peace and friendship, each person was also given a gold ribbon, which was pinned on their shirts to symbolize angels, indicating a desire to make the city into a true “City of Angels.”

Leland Stewart, with the Los Angeles-based Unity-and-Diversity World Council, an organization that promotes understanding, was especially glad to speak at the peace rally because he lives in Mar Vista, near the recent gang shootings in Venice. Despite the violence, which he said is a symptom of the period of transition the world is in, Stewart was optimistic about the future.

“Religions are waking up and working together,” he said.

Cassie Jones, a neighbor of Stevens in Chatsworth who said she has watched Stevens planning the rally for months, said that although the rally was small, it was still important. “I think it starts here with us,” she said.

Loraine Landeros of Canoga Park came to the rally worried about her two daughters and felt that more should be done to emphasize the good that kids do rather than the gang violence in which some youths are involved. “The kids who do good things should be on television,” she said.

“Maybe if there were more events like this, there would be peace in L.A.,” Landeros said.