At the festival local vendors are lined up to serve those who are waiting. People from other cultures can also enjoy the event by viewing art and listening to music.
The Africa in April Cultural Awareness Festival released their plans for the 33rd Africa in April festival starting April 17. Â
David L. Acey Sr., the executive director of Africa in April, responded by addressing all activities to take place at the festival.
“Africa in April Cultural Awareness Festival, Inc. are making plans for Festival 2019 from April 17 to 21 on the internationally known Beale Street/Robert Church Park,†Acey said in a press release. “This year marks our 33rd Anniversary, and we anticipate record attendance. This anniversary celebration will recognize Memphis and Shelby County’s Bicentennial from 1819 to 2019, utilizing various mediums with different themes daily, educational excellence, arts and crafts, afrocentricity, economics, genealogy, musicology, entrepreneurship, international relations, cuisine, drug awareness, history, tourism, culture and the arts.â€
Acey and his wife created the festival 33 years ago to educate people about African culture in more than one way. Acey continues the tradition that involves the community by bringing awareness to the people.
“At first, my wife and I were thinking of a way to get black people back in touch with their culture,†Acey said. “We just brainstormed, and my wife said, ‘Why don’t we start an festival in April?’ Black people like to dance. We do art. We do a lot of artistic things, and maybe we can start something to showcase all of that.â€
At a community meeting, some members brought up the importance of teaching African culture. Acey’s wife introduced the idea to host a festival to inform people through music, food and art and named it Africa in April. Â
As the planning continued, Acey and his team found a time of the year, but they needed place to start an event while at the time having no financial support. Â
“We were at humble beginnings, which means we didn’t have any money and weren’t a real organization yet,†Acey said. “In 1986, six of us went down on Main Street wearing our African clothes and started to beat our drums saying, ‘This is Africa in April Cultural Awareness Festival.’ The beautiful thing about it also is a lot of people think you’ve got to have a lot of money to do something.â€
Originally, the festival was planned without monetary support for it to begin. Acey needed to send a message to people by marching with his colleagues in Downtown Memphis wearing clothing representing his ancestors. He also said he noticed the reactions from people of different ethnicities and skin colors in response to the idea of hosting an event for his people.
“Actually, we were building a house for our people, and they didn’t know it,†Acey said. “The ones that gave us the most trouble down on Main Street were the black people by saying, ‘Don’t nobody want to go back to Africa,’ and ‘What y’all trying to do?’ But they didn’t understand we were building a house for them. Eventually, whites would come by and so did Jewish people, thinking it was good idea to do something for your people.â€Â
Once the word got around about a new festival in Memphis, things started to move in a more positive direction. Acey collaborated with his team about getting more people involved and received sponsors to help turn the idea into a reality.
“We moved from no money and no real organization to a organization where we begin to build every year,†Acey said. “We’ve got more vendors, we’ve got more people coming to Memphis and we kept the African theme. Each year, we are going to honor an African country and celebrate it through the wonders of the art.â€Â Â
The festival is honoring the Republic of Nigeria this year. The Africa in April Cultural Awareness organization is looking for volunteers to assist with this event. For more information, visit africainapril.org. Â
