Marches are fun. They are great exercise, a fun community social activity, and on Jan. 20 in Homer, we are planning a celebration march for the anniversary of our huge Women’s March last January which included at least 800 participants here. Some of our folks were young, some old (actually some very young and some very old), some with disabilities, men and women, rich and not-so-rich, different faiths, different ethnicities, but all of us were part of our wonderful Homer community.

There will also be grassroots marches in several towns in Alaska as well as a big one in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, the focus of our march is on our own community here in Homer and on women’s issue, including women’s health, harassment issues, inequity of women’s pay, and a special focus on strengthening our community to foster a sustainable healthy environment for children and families. We all want there to be good jobs in our community, a healthy environment — clean water and air, for starters — good schools and other resources for education.

Another important focus of our march this year is the need for folks to be registered to vote. Be ready to go to the polls and vote because every vote counts, everyone’s vote counts. (There will be voter registrars at WKFL Park after the March.)

Rain or shine, snow or ice — and possibly we’ll have it all — this will be a fun, important March. Last year sincere kudos to the city for sanding the March route, making it easy to walk even though it was so icy, and thanks to our Homer Police for safety and help with traffic. The march on the 20th will be a good time to advocate peacefully for our community and for women. Our march will stress the fact that women’s rights are human rights and that we all benefit when we work together. This is important for our community. Come on out and join us.

Lani Raymond is an advocate for our community, a retired teacher, a birder and a recycler.