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Feature
17th Annual Black Heritage Festival Kicks Off Next Week With Gala
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
The Tampa Bay Black Her- itage Festival, the city’s longest-running event of its kind, is set to kick off its 17th year of events involving 10 days of food, fun, and music.
Planning for the festival is about “99 percent” complete, said longtime festival co-chair William Sanders.
“We’re pretty much on easy street,” he said.
Co-chair Ruby Jackson concurred.
“I really feel good about this,” she said. “Every year that God blesses us to do this again, I feel wonderful.”
Sanders said excitement for this year’s festival is high thanks to a series of fortunate events, beginning with the an- nouncement last October of Zenith Education Group as the presenting sponsor for the free two-day music concert in downtown Tampa’s Curtis Hixon Park.
The festival has been with- out a presenting sponsor since 2009, Sanders said.
Also, a new partnership with Visit Tampa Bay has
WILLIAM SANDERS CO-CHAIR
helped boost the festival’s pro- file and attract more visitors, he said.
Founded in 2000 by for- mer University of South Florida ombudsman Samuel Wright, the festival has blos- somed from a two-day event into a cultural attraction fea- turing lectures, concerts, galas, and luncheons that begins the weekend before and concludes the weekend after the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday.
This year’s events include the Leadership Luncheon fea- turing Vashti Murphy McKenzie, renowned bishop of the African Methodist Epis- copal Church, the 5K Walk/Run for Health, and the Heritage Gala with entertain-
RUBY JACKSON CO-CHAIR
ment by R&B band Lakeside. Perhaps the festival’s most popular attraction is the music concert and the collection of vendors called “the Villages” – which features displays from artists, authors, fraternal or- ganizations, and businesses –
that fill the park.
R&B act The Dazz Band
and jazz artist David San- born will headline the concert on Saturday and Sunday, re- spectively.
While the music concert has become the festival’s main event luring people from throughout the state and as far away as California, the core purpose of the festival is edu- cation, Sanders said.
This mission is fulfilled
through the cultural, finance, and business seminars sprin- kled throughout the length of the festival, Sanders said.
“The festival has always been more than the music,” he said.
It’s unclear how much money the festival pumps into the local economy and exact figures for average festival at- tendance was not available. However, last year’s concert attendance was estimated at about 15,000, Sanders said.
Organizers are wanting to increase that number and po- sition the festival as a destina- tion event as its 20th anniversary approaches, Jackson said.
Jackson credits the city, county, and local community’s continued support and inter- est in the festival as reasons for its survival.
“I have to give it to the community,” she said. “As long as they stay part of this, I think we will stay.”
If You Go
The 17th Annual Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival will kick off on Thursday, Jan. 12, with the Heritage Gala at
TPepin’s Hospitality Centre, 4121 N. 50th St., in Tampa. Tickets are $55 per person or $100 a couple and can be pur- chased at www.tampablack- heritage.org.
Other events include: Gospel Night with Todd Du- laney, 8 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15, Allen Temple AME Church, 2101 Lowe St., Tampa. Cost is $10. Tickets can be purchased at www.tampablackheritage. org.
Heritage Youth Night, 5:30 to 8 p.m., HCC Ybor Campus, 2112 N. 15th St., Tampa. Ad- mission to this event is free.
Leadership Luncheon with
Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., University Area Commu- nity Center, 14013 N. 22nd St., Tampa. Tickets are $20 per person and can be purchased at www.tampablackheritage. org.
17th Annual Music Fest, 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Jan. 21 and 22, Curtis Hixon Park, 600 N. Ashley Dr., Tampa. Admission is free.
For more information about the Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival, visit www.tampablackheritage.org.
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