The Seventh Annual Out of the Darkness into the Light festival and candlelight walk will be held Saturday beginning at noon from the Owl Creek Reservoir in Tamaqua.

Organized by Safer Streets for Tamaqua’s Little Streets, the event focuses on overdose awareness and features speakers, games, music, food and more.

It is held to “show our kids we all can have a good time without the use of drugs and alcohol,” Tammy Sienkiewicz, treasurer of Safer Streets. “To show recovery is possible. Recovery is not bad people becoming good, it is good people getting well - that message needs to be heard more often.”

All children will receive five free tickets for carnival games, along with free popcorn and snow cones. WMGH will host a live broadcast from noon to 1:30 p.m., and Drive Train will perform from 2-5 p.m.

Stephen Bayer, newly appointed judge for Schuylkill County Drug Court, will speak at noon, followed by keynote speaker Pat Farrell at 3 p.m.

Training on how to use naloxone, a medicine that reverses an opioid overdose, will be held at 2 p.m. A distribution will follow.

“And of course our walk that started it all, our Candlelight Walk to Remember, will be at 5 p.m. around the reservoir,” Sienkiewicz said. “We encourage family and friends to bring pictures to place on our purple ribbon of loved ones lost to substance/alcohol use disorder that left us too soon.”

Adults will receive candles and children will be given glow sticks.

Food offerings include Tommy’s pizza, Dani’s homemade macaroni and cheese, and the original Tamaqua Chili Dog’s hot dogs and chili cheese fries. Hope & Coffee will have iced coffee, iced tea and lemonade.

Sienkiewicz expects 1,000 people over the course of the day.

She said the group plans the event to provide resources to those in recovery, and to the families and friends of those who have substance abuse disorders.

“When our daughter Alex asked for help we had no idea where to turn, and the stigma of addiction made it that we would not ask,” said Sienkiewicz, who lost her daughter to a fentanyl overdose in 2016. “We had no idea there were drug and alcohol inpatient rehabs in Pennsylvania. We never want another parent to be in our shoes, so having resources and incorporating them into a family fun event is saving lives.”

Sienkiewicz said the event began in 2016 as a candlelight walk on Tamaqua’s Broad Street as a way to “stop the silence, speak the truth and start a conversation.”

“We believe Safer Streets has done that. We kicked the doors of stigma down and opened the doors to substance use disorder education, support and treatment. We do not know anyone that is not affected by substance/alcohol use disorder,” she said. “It affects people from Park Avenue to a park bench. This is our neighbors, friends and family. We believe education is the way to prevent future generations from starting so one day we can end this epidemic.”

Ample parking and handicapped parking is available from the reservoir’s lower lot on Owl Creek Road. A shuttle will provide transportation to the event.

For more information visit www.saferstreetstamaqua.com.