Celebrating sobriety
A team representing the Dodge County Drug Court participated in last year’s Soberfest kickball game. This year’s event, on July 11 in Kasson, is open to the public. Submitted photo
A group of residents from seven counties will gather in Kasson on July 12 to show that having fun and staying sober are not mutually exclusive concepts.
What started in 2007 as a friendly softball game between Wabasha and Steele county drug court participants and alumni has grown as counties across the Third Judicial District have adopted drug court and veterans court programs.
The Dodge County Drug Court has hosted since 2008. And the activity has changed; they've switched from softball to kickball, which is a more inclusive sport. There’s also a dinner catered by Hy-Vee.
“We invite other courts to bring their own teams. It’s pretty informal, but we make it work,” Dodge County Drug Court Coordinator Eric Thompson said.
Treatment Court programs offer some who have been arrested on drug or alcohol charges to choose an alternative to incarceration–but it is by no means an easy choice.
Requirements for the five-phase program are daunting, and there can be stiff penalties for not meeting them.
Participants must attend court weekly or monthly, participate in chemical dependency treatment and support group meetings, complete cognitive skills programs, submit to a minimum of twice weekly random testing, obtain a valid driver’s license, earn their GED or diploma, hold down a job, comply with child support orders, and pay off all fines, fees, and restitution.
Drug court takes 18 months or more to complete–so graduation is a celebration, often involving family, friends, and local media coverage.
Thompson said Soberfest is also a way of opening up the program to the community.
“It’s an opportunity to showcase recovery in a community setting,” he said. “It’s important for the community to see the life transformation that’s going on in drug court.”
Participants, he said, are often well-known for their lives before the program. Soberfest “demonstrates our participants, who are relatively infamous in our community, are now out there working, paying taxes. They have custody of their children or, if not, they’re paying child support. They’re driving legally. They have their mental health under control.”
By showing up for Soberfest, Thompson said, Treatment Court participants do more than just have an afternoon of sober fun.
“It’s people showing they can have fun in a sober environment. They have a good time and show the community that magic does happen,” he said.
What: Soberfest
When: July 11, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Where: Veteran’s Memorial Park, 201 7th St. NW, Kasson
Who: Open to the public