AFRICATOWN Community Day draws THOUSANDS
The 9th annual Africatown Community Day Festival was a rousing success as an estimated crowd of over 1,000 Africatown residents, friends and visitors turned out to enjoy the fun, family and food that was on display that always make this one of the most anticipated annual event that The Africatown Community has to offer. This year’s live entertainment was provided by Mr. Campbell, a local singer whose smooth R & B style kept the audience moving and grooving whenever he was on the stage. A local DJ provided recorded music that kept the crowd entertained throughout the event.
Over the years the audience has evolved with the equipment they bring to the event. They started with lawn chairs, then small tents, next large tents. This time there were what I call roll out tents that were small but included table and chairs. Of course, there was the Jumper Bubble which is always popular with the kids. Free food is always provided by sponsors but everyone always brings their own grill to try and out grill their neighbor. The crowd always walk continually, as if they are attending an HBCU homecoming football classic and parking space is at a premium as attendees come early to claim their spots and leave late.
This event is the continuation of a community event started in the 1950s by the Black Workers Union Members at the International Paper and Scott Paper Companies as they celebrated the Labor Day Holiday each year. Congratulations has to go out to Lamar and Chiquitta Howard and their family members as they have worked tirelessly over the past to build this Community Event to the successful stage where it is right now. They gave me a peek look into what they are planning for the tenth anniversary of Africatown’s Community Day and all I can say is it should be fantastic.
One thing that I can say is look for The Africatown Heritage House to be open on that Sunday next year as a number of visitors were looking to visit The Heritage House and were disappointed that it was not open for visitors. Especially since The Africatown Welcome Center has not yet broken grown and there is no timetable for its construction and completion even though the funds have already been approved for construction.