TIFTON — Despite the gloomy day, residents of Tifton were in high spirits at this year’s RecoveryFest.

Members of the community gathered in Fulwood Park Saturday for the recovery awareness event, showing support for their loved ones and fellow Tifton residents embarking on their own paths to recovery and sharing a good time in spite of the less than optimal weather.

Attendees of the festival were encouraged to connect with the numerous outreach and support organizations, including the Tiftarea House of Hope and the New Life Addiction Recovery Center out of Americus, that were participating in the event, whether to find support for themselves or others or to learn how they could offer that aid themselves.

Up on the park’s main stage, speakers came up throughout the afternoon to share testimonies or words of advice with RecoveryFest guests.

Among these speakers were event organizer Michelle Hammond and Evan Brown, the new executive director of OASIS, a local recovery organization that was sponsoring the festival this year. Each of them expressed their gratitude to the attendees for coming to the event to show their support in spite of the weather and proudly recounted how far they had come since starting on their roads to recovery.

“I spent fifteen years in addiction — I spent fifteen years suffering and struggling on the other side of the fence,” Brown said. “It almost killed me on more than one occasion; today, I’m alive and living my recovery out loud and proud.”

The stage was also host to a handful of games and competitions, including a regular raffle drawing for various prizes, donated from businesses in the community, and face-offs in challenges like soda can balancing, ball catching, and cup stacking.

Other activities were scattered around the festival grounds — alongside bounce houses for the younger crowds, patrons could throw axes and shurikens at The Edge’s bus, grab an ice cold snack at the Sno Biz food truck, or try their hand at dropping a few people into a dunk tank, all free of charge in support of the event.

Following the conclusion of RecoveryFest, Hammond expressed immense satisfaction in how the event had gone, reporting around 400 people in attendance and 18 resource tables from participating organizations.

She also felt the recovery community had been represented well through the festival and was grateful to OASIS for their support, eager to continue working with them on future RecoveryFests or other similar events.