In the middle of Lock 3, a group of drummers banged out a beat on traditional African drums while three little girls played and danced along. The final day of the 36th annual African-American Cultural Festival was just starting up, and the girls were some of the first to arrive on Sunday.
“It seemed like a really awesome cultural event,” said Bridgett Mayeux as her two girls, Satya, 6, and Phalen, 4, raced from the drums to the youth tent to make their own musical instruments, African shakers, out of foam cups filled with seeds.
Mayeux, from Bath, heard about the festival from Annette Long, one of several jewelry vendors at the event. Long’s 6-year-old niece Italy Star played drums along with the girls.
“I feel like everyone in the whole community should be here today,” Mayeux said. “I’m really inspired by all the work that goes into the event.”
In its 36th year, the African-American festival’s vendors ranged from handmade jewelry to traditional African cuisine.
In addition to vendors, the event featured a health tent with free wellness and HIV testing, a chess tournament and free haircuts from Beyond Expectations Barber College.
Trumpets blared on Lock 3’s main stage as more people arrived into the afternoon, passing fashion vendors and admiring their vibrant colors and tribal prints.
The festival expanded this year to fill the entire weekend with cultural activities and music, with a headlining performance from the S.O.S. Band, whose hits include Take Your Time (Do It Right) and Just Be Good To Me. New this year was a youth talent show with a $500 grand prize.
“We wanted to try to get a youth contingent to the event,” said Debra Calhoun, one of the festival’s coordinators and an adjunct professor of Pan-African Studies at Kent State University. “They’re going to be the ones to carry this event.”
Calhoun said events like this, especially in light of recent shootings, are important to help establish cultural sensitivity and understanding among the community and young people.
The festival had a special youth tent with activities and a free school supply and book giveaway.
This year’s theme for kids was “dance,” so they had the chance to make African instruments and collars before getting their faces painted, all to prep them for grooving to the music.
“Right now, we need unity among the masses of people,” said Shcarra Benn, the festival’s youth coordinator. “The community needs to know our history. Without that knowledge, there’s no tradition to be passed on.”
Christiana White Blue, 17, walked with her friend Yona White, 16, both from Akron, after having their faces painted with lines of white dots above their eyebrows and down their noses.
“I like the vibes,” White said. “It’s important to get in touch with your cultural roots and see where you came from.”
Theresa Cottom can be reached at 330-996-3216 or tcottom@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @Theresa_Cottom.