Photo by Madeline Murphy Justin Arthur, a volunteer performer at Celebrate Recovery Day, sang on the Muskingum Park stage during Saturday’s event in Marietta.

MARIETTA — The Washington County Behavioral Health Board and the Right Path for Washington County have joined forces to fight the tough, life-long battle against addiction.

On Saturday, many of those who are in that fight, and their loved ones, came together at Muskingum Park in Marietta to take part in a celebration of their successes.

According to Right Path coordinator Cathy Harper, Celebrate Recovery Day was a celebration for people in recovery and their families.

“I think Celebrate Recovery Day is a wonderful event for the community,” said Amanda Kelsey of Marietta, who is in school to be a chemical dependency counselor.

“Everyone can collaborate in an effort to help solve the problem,” she said.

Photo by Madeline Murphy People attending Celebrate Recovery Day on Saturday at Muskingum Park in Marietta gather to hear Shay Dunn’s story of recovery.

The event held at Muskingum Park in downtown Marietta offered games, live music, food from Kona Ice, Busy Bee Restaurant, Little Caesars and Lisa’s Sweet Stop and speakers who are in recovery telling the story of their journey to sobriety.

Shay Dunn, 27, of Newport, spoke at the event as a way to give back to the community that she hurt.

“I am a recovery addict from Washington County,” Dunn said.

“Growing up I had good grades and was very athletic. I could have been successful, but I became addicted to drugs instead,” she said.

After 10 years of active addiction Dunn was arrested for crimes associated with her addiction to opioids.

Photo by Madeline Murphy Crowds stop at booths present at Celebrate Recovery Day in Marietta, to hear what each station had to offer and learn about how they can help the community.

“I caught charges and lost custody of my son; I never thought I would go to jail, but next thing I knew I was facing 22 years and I pled guilty to everything,” she said.

“The judge told me that I had more potential than a life of drugs, and I went into the jail knowing that I did not want that life anymore,” she said.

Using programs like the ones offered at the celebration and the Facebook page “From Prison to Purpose” Dunn said she was able to begin her recovery.

“Everybody knew about my addiction so they should know about my recovery. I’ve always been part of the problem and today I want to be part of the answer,” she said.

On Oct. 2, Dunn said she will celebrate three years of sobriety.

“We need to come together and help the community; this is killing a whole generation,” she said.

Brent Phipps, the Deputy Director with the Washington County Behavioral Health Board, said the idea for putting the event together came after he attended a similar event in Muskingum County.

“They had one a few months ago that I attended; it was fun and I thought it would be good idea to have one here as well,” Phipps said.

“Our community should know of all the available recovery service options in the county,” he said.

“I love these kinds of events, they are vital for restoration,” said Rich Walters, VOCA Treatment Center’s national outreach director, and a speaker at the event.

“I think a lot of times people hide because they are ashamed of their addiction, instead of out having fun and learning how to get help. At events like this, people don’t know if someone is struggling or not, they are just other community members,” said Karen Binkley, the president of the Washington County Behavioral Health Board.

The event entertainment included performances from Brady Young, Levi Westfall, Some Kind of Strange and Justin Arthur, all volunteering as a way to show their support for the event.

Mark Doebrich,, the event emcee, with Third Street Music, volunteered to provide sound equipment for Celebrate Recovery Day.

“Recovery is a challenge; too many young adults are dying from overdoses, I want to help advocate to kids especially, so that they can grow to be successful and not find themselves on the road to addiction,” Doebrich said.

Event officials and speakers mentioned their hopes of making this annual event that can reach out to everyone, addicts especially that are in recovery or not.

“It doesn’t matter why or how they became addicts, even if they are the ones who were just shooting up down by the river, I want them to come and seek help,” said Jackson Patterson a recovered addict, volunteer and a leader of Main Street West who was speaking at the event.