Aug. 29 grand opening in Chestertown doubles as a stop on Nature Sacred’s national Little Yellow Journal Tour, with a music festival, food trucks, and community journaling
CHESTERTOWN, Md. — Aug. 18, 2026 — On more than eight acres along Morgan Creek, Minary’s Dream Alliance gives local middle schoolers mentorship, academic support, and hands-on learning outside the classroom walls. Now a different kind of space is opening on the property: one built for stillness. On Saturday, Aug. 29, Minary’s Dream Alliance and Nature Sacred will dedicate the Sacred Place at Minary’s Dream Alliance, 9155 American Legion Road, with a grand opening celebration beginning at 11:45 a.m. The event is free and open to the public.
The Sacred Place was shaped through Nature Sacred’s community-led design process, including two open workshops where MDA Youth, families, and neighbors gave input. South Fork Studio, a Chestertown landscape architecture firm, translated those ideas into the final design, with conservation partner ShoreRivers advising on the health of the waterfront. As in every Sacred Place, a handcrafted wooden bench anchors the space, with a Little Yellow Journal tucked beneath it where visitors are invited to write whatever is on their minds.
The space will be tended by Doncella Wilson and Vanessa Holloway-Truxton, joining the National Nature Sacred Firesoul™ Network of 300+ community leaders who sustain Sacred Places across the country.
“This Sacred Place gives our youth and community a space to pause, reconnect with nature, and find a moment of peace,” said Doncella Wilson, LMSW, co-founder of Minary’s Dream Alliance. “We’re honored to help create a space that inspires reflection, connection, and hope for generations to come.”
Minary’s Dream Alliance, founded in 2020, works to transform the lives of youth, families, and communities across the Eastern Shore through education, resource development, and community engagement. Its campus is home to the Minary’s Dream Academy After-School Program and Club F.E.A.R. (Face Everything & Rise) Adolescent Clubhouse. Minary’s Dream Alliance also serves as a community hub, bringing together youth, families, partners, and resources to foster connection, opportunity, and collective growth.
The grand opening also marks a stop on the Little Yellow Journal Tour, Nature Sacred’s year-long, cross-country journey marking the organization’s 30th anniversary alongside America’s 250th. At each stop, Firesouls and community members write reflections in response to a few simple prompts, including: If this Sacred Place could speak to the nation, what would it say? At year’s end, the pages gathered from communities coast to coast will be bound into a single journal.
“Every inch of this campus is busy with activity. This corner is for pause, for being. You sit, you breathe, you journal,” said Alden E. Stoner, CEO of Nature Sacred. “It was designed so kids can learn the benefits of nature and belonging.”
Unlike traditional park systems, Nature Sacred does not own or manage land — it guides communities through a collaborative design process and stays engaged for the lifetime of each space through the Firesoul Network. The organization has partnered with communities to open 148 Sacred Places since 1996, in hospitals, prisons, schools, cemeteries, and neighborhoods where nearby nature is hardest to find. Research shows that as little as 10 minutes in a place where people feel connected to nature is enough to measurably lower stress.
The Aug. 29 celebration will feature a music festival with MDA Youth Members Amiya Potts, Isaiah Sampson; Friends In Faith, AC Smoove, Strykers Posse, Walker Redds Project, The Focus Band, and Simply Wayne. There will be food trucks and a community journaling activity with all supplies provided.
For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Quinn O’Keefe at qokeefe@naturesacred.org.
