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10th Annual African American Festival – Bigger
and Better Than Ever
Sojourner’s Truth Staff
The African American
Festival, this year in its 10th version, had an
inauspicious start a decade ago. Back in those days and for
the first few years, the festival was tucked into a small
corner in an inner-city park on Detroit Avenue and attracted
a few hundred attendees.
Now the festival,
organized and hosted by the Toledo Urban Federal Credit
Union (TUFCU), is an event to be reckoned with and, 10 years
later, has evolved into one of the city’s summer highlights.
The festival moved to The
University of Toledo’s Scott Park Campus several years ago
and now attracts thousands to its variety of activities.
This year’s prayer
breakfast, held at Abundant Life Ministries on Friday
morning, honored eight Toledoans for their service to the
credit union and the festival over the years.
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Sen. Nina Turner and
Suzette Cowell
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Saturday morning’s parade
brought out dozens of participants as hundreds of onlookers
lined the two and a half mile route along Dorr and
neighboring streets.
The festival itself, on
Saturday and Sunday, featured a variety of local and
regional musical performers, children’s rides sponsored by
State Farm and assorted food and craft vendors.
Friday morning’s breakfast
brought in about 100 attendees to participate in morning of
prayer led by various area ministers, to listen to vocal
renditions by Amanda Clark, to pay homage to the honorees
and to indulge in a breakfast buffet.
This year’s honorees were:
Reginald James Coley, Vincent Davis, Kimberly Hibbett, Judy
Jones, Billie J. Lothery, Victoria Scott Colbert, Shawnise
Simmons and Margaret E. Watson.
Coley, a licensed chemical
dependency counselor, is a long-time volunteer for a number
of organizations including TUFCU. Davis, owner/operator of
a State Farm Insurance Agency has supported the Festival for
many years by supplying the children’s rides
Hibbett, Lothery, Scott
Colbert, Simmons and Watson are also long-time volunteers
for the credit union and the festival.
Junes, the manager of the
Toledo Lucas County Public Library Moot Branch – just a few
blocks west of TUFCU, was honored for her devotion to the
library’s customers, particularly the youngsters who flock
to the site.
Saturday’s parade featured
local students, men on horseback, Corvettes and politicians
galore, including statewide Democratic candidates – Ed
FitzGerald for governor and David Pepper for attorney
general – possibly the first time a gubernatorial candidate
has participated.
Local candidates – Toledo
City Councilman Jack Ford and his opponent in this year’s
race for the state senate, Sen. Edna Brown, were also part
of the parade, along with a number of other local office
holders.
Saturday’s performers
included Jay Rush Jennings, Karen Harris, a/k/a Lady K;
Heatwave; Ray, Goodman & Brown; Five Deep Band and Michael
Henderson.
Sunday was gospel day
featuring Katrina Barnhill, Kalvin Hughes Urban Jazz
Coalition, The Newson Family Singers, Friendship BC and,
closing the show, the Rance Allen Group.
This year’s festival
sponsors were: Buckeye CableSystem, Fifth Third Bank, Glass
City Black Brothers United, the Grand Plaza Hotel, the
Hollywood Casino, KeyBank, State Farm, Taylor Cadillac, The
Andersons, The Blade, The Sojourner’s Truth, the Toledo
Journal, The University of Toledo, the Toledo Refining
Company, WIMX 95.7, WJUC The Juice 107.3, WJZE Hot 97.3,
Woodforest Bank, WTV 13abc and Yark Automotive Group.
By coincidence, TUFCU
celebrated its 18th anniversary on the day
following the festival.
Suzette Cowell, TUFCU CEO
made the following observations about the longevity of the
festival and, by extension, the credit union: “I want to
thank the community, of course. But this longevity has come
about because of the support not only of the community but
also because of the support of corporate partners and the
churches. We have all come together.
“This couldn’t have been
done by one entity and if not for the involvement of
corporate, community and churches, this would not have
lasted as long as it has. We need all of those entities.” |
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