“Community” is a word that gets tossed around like parking tickets and bills, accumulating and maintaining a commonplace status in contemporary lingo. But for some of us, such as this weekend’s Heart of Midtown festival organizers, this word is a much more personal, impactful force that heals, forms comradery and educates our friends and neighbors about topical, local issues.

Heart of Midtown is a free, annual event organized by Rewind Kingston on Saturday, Sept. 20 from noon-8 p.m. It’s gearing up for its third rendition at Field Court, a lot on a dead-end street in literally the heart of Midtown right off of Broadway. The day-long festival includes live music, vendors, an art show and different wellness activities with a focus on providing mental health awareness and resources.

The idea for Heart of Midtown stems from one family’s struggle — the loss of a beloved daughter, sister and friend.

Before the Flood family, the owners and architects that constructed the successful street festival and run the vintage clothing store Rewind Kingston on Broadway, began their current enterprises, the family suffered the devastating loss of their daughter, Cassidy Flood in 2020. Cassidy was a 19-year-old SUNY New Paltz student who had dealt with mental health issues for many years.

In the wake of this tragedy, the family found coping methods to help them work through their grief together — shopping and music. “Retail therapy is real,” said Karlie Flood, oldest of the Flood children and driving force behind the store and festival’s marketing.

The space at 612 Broadway where Rewind Kingston now resides was home to Ye Olde Book Shop, owned by a relative of the Floods who sold it to them in 2020 as the family was still dealing with the fresh wound of their loved one’s passing.

“We didn’t know what we were going to do with the store. [Our family] was thinking of renting it out, but it needed to be reworked and renovated,” Karlie said.

The need to honor Cassidy’s life and memory remained a persistent focus in the family’s lives. After learning about the healing power of cold plunges, the exercise presented itself to the family as a way to use this extreme but invigorating full-body experience as a means to organize a fundraiser in honor of Cassidy. Called Go All In For Mental Health, it took its first plunge in March of 2022 at Kingston Point Beach.

The money raised from the event was donated to United We Om, a Hudson Valley-based trauma-informed yoga and meditation non-profit which educates and trains people about the therapeutic power of yoga and provides free classes to those in need. Since starting three years ago, the event has raised $40,000, which mainly went to United We Om, with some money dispersed to New Paltz’s Maya Gold Foundation, which provides youth mental health education and aid.

In the summer of 2022, Rewind Kingston began as a simple pop-up shop that would periodically sell clothing mainly curated by the youngest of the Flood sisters, Sydney, and also functioned as a means to continue raising money for local organizations and continue the conversation about mental health.

“[Rewind Kingston] is a space where young people can come in and talk about mental health and have a safe space. Our business model is based on what we would pay for it, mostly under $30,” Karlie said.

The clothes vary from higher-quality pieces and essentials to upcycled one-offs made by the family. Karlie, who is also an artist and writer, sells her handcrafted prints, stickers and tote bags at Rewind.

The focus on mental health became paramount for the family, as they came to see it as a sector of society that feels both ever-present yet inaccessible. “The community needs a place where all of these organizations can connect and be together so you can learn about all of them in one place and make people aware of them,” Karlie said.

The idea behind the festival is simple: a day full of art, music, workshops and access to resources, located in a highly trafficked area of the city. Starting small with around 300 attendees, the event has grown in size, attendance and featured performances since then.

Ginger Winn, an up-and-coming recording artist based in Kingston, was the headliner at last year’s Heart of Midtown festival, whose record label donated 300 “self-care kit” tote bags to the event. Winn even created a song with Karlie and Sydney’s writing about Cassidy for the event, called Everytime it Rains. All proceeds from the song are donated to mental health organizations and the festival – forever.

“Every year of the festival it’s down-poured,” Karlie said. “And as [Ginger Winn] went on stage it stopped raining and there were two giant rainbows that went over her. Everyone was crying.”

After the event, Karlie ended up landing a job with the record company which works with Winn and is now their director of creative strategies. “It goes to show that if you do things you love, things can work out for you,” Karlie said.

Radio Kingston is a main sponsor for the event, providing the sound and paying for the mental health zines that Karlie and friends create each year. In addition, the Center for Photography at Woodstock is doing cyano-printing workshops, there will be pickleball sessions, improv workshops, a light show, a dunk tank, flash tattoos and much more.

After the festival is over there will be an afterparty at Camp Kingston with an open mic from 9 p.m.-12 a.m. Karlie, an established poet with a well-followed Instagram account, @reminderstomyfutureself, where she posts her writing and other artistic creations, will be performing her writing there (for the very first time), along with several other poets and musicians. Learn more here.

“Capitalism is a nightmare and we are trying to be a space for people to connect. We play fun music we like to dance to, we’re basically just trying to create our dream festival with live music, mental health [resources] and free stuff,” Karlie said.

Learn more about Heart of Midtown here, which will also bring you to the Rewind Kingston website, where you can learn more about the business. Heart of Midtown will take place on Saturday, Sept. 20 from noon-8 p.m. at Field Court in Midtown Kingston.