Events to celebrate Black joy in Indy this weekend: 'It's exactly what we need right now'
Spanning two days, local Black musicians, dancers and poets will come together with local and Black-owned food and drinks vendors, small business owners and community organizations to kickstart a new tradition of dedicating the first weekend of August to celebrating Black Joy.
"Really the whole idea of it is like, Black people are more than, like, a circumstance or a funding need or something," Nigel Long, program manager and curator for GANGGANG and project manager for BLACK: A Festival of Joy, said. "We should be described by our joy, or our creativity or, you know, all these other things that put us in a good light."
Long said this new festival is meant to be a time where the Black community can come and be together while expressing themselves and their creativity in a positive and welcoming environment as well as the culmination of an entire weekend's worth of Black celebration.
Here are a few of the events planned for this weekend:
Flanner House hosts Tha Block Party Vol. 6
On Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Flanner House, located at 2424 Doctor M.L.K. Jr St., will host its sixth annual Black-owned business block party, "Tha Block Party Vol. 6," featuring live music, food trucks, shopping from local vendors, a video game truck and back-to-school giveaway for kids and more for the community to enjoy and build connections, said Dominic Dorsey, founder of DONT SLEEP and one of the event's organizers.
Dorsey said the consistent theme between the festivals happening this weekend is Black joy and that it was a natural progression to host them together.
"It's all about community," he said. "Seeing kids playing and seeing, you know, friends and family that you haven't seen since high school. All of that is restorative and it's exactly what we need right now."
What started as the Black Business Block Party with 50 vendors in 2016 has now grown to approximately 150 Black-owned vendors such as Ms. Nikki's Butter, Black and Inspired, KBK Magik and Rooted with Ruby, Dorsey said. Each of the vendors will have booths set up all around the parking lot of Flanner House in addition to several educational and youth services booths, art and photography booths and an Eskenazi Health Center.
"We not only want to create partnerships, increase opportunities for people to see how to do better branding or to market their materials better just simply display them for the community to come and purchase," he said, "but create those connections so that the community can come back."
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Stages will be set up for live music and performances from local artists such as Be On It, Native Son, Eli Lou and Shae Sparks, as well as DJ sets from DJ Boogie Bang, Hoosier Big Deal and SoundOff, he said.
In addition to a beer and wine garden, a different area of the lot will feature BuyBrokili's Food Truck Food Court including Black Leaf Vegan, 5 Star BBQ, The Sweet Potato, Cheftlc, Sparkles Tasty Sweets, Treats by Fee and Off the Hook Fish & More.
The event is free, family-friendly and open to everyone, Dorsey said. More information including a full list of business and food vendors and performers can be found at thablockparty.com
BLACK: A Festival of Joy
Rounding out the weekend with a festival, Black Joy Indy will put on BLACK: A Festival of Joy on Sunday from noon to 9 p.m. at the Taggart Memorial Amphitheater in Riverside Park, 1856 Burdsal Parkway. The music-based community festival aims to be a celebration of creativity and joy within the Black community in Indianapolis in "an effort to name, display and be Black Joy," according to the festival's website.
Long, the event's project manager, said the event is a collaboration and partnership between many local Black-led organizations such as the Madam Walker Legacy Center, Midwest League, GANGGANG, Belmont Beach Project and The Indianapolis Foundation.
Teddrick Hardy, event organizer for BLACK: A Festival of Joy, said attendees should expect a warm atmosphere.
"That's the main focus, just coming out having joy, being around somebody that looks like you with a lot of smiles," Hardy said, "a lot of positivity and a lot of looking forward to the future and what events like this will bring into the city of Indianapolis and surrounding areas."
The festival will also include a Kid's Zone, Hardy said, which will include activities such as kickball, double dutch, tug-of-war, red light, green light and hula hooping, in an effort to introduce kids to games played by generations before them and get them active outdoors.
BLACK: A Festival of Joy will feature performances by musical artists such as R & B artist Case, Django Knight and hip-hop artist Maxie, who will be headlining later in the evening, Hardy said. A list of food trucks that will be vending onsite is still being determined, however, Hardy said there will be several options for guests to choose from throughout the day.
Indy-based sound bath facilitators Charlier Redd and Devon Ginn will also be at the festival providing attendees with sound bowl meditation sessions in addition to poetry readings by Indy-based poet Januarie York and performances from Kenyetta Dance Company, Hardy said.
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"Then we're gonna do a community line dance, which we want to try to get everybody involved," he said. "We're just gonna try to get everybody up and set the tone with this first event."
Guests are encouraged to bring drinks and coolers to stay hydrated in the heat and bring beach blankets, lawn chairs and umbrellas for shade to sit around the amphitheater, Long said. The festival is free and open to the public, however, attendees must register at blackjoyindy.com for tickets.
Contact IndyStar reporter Chloe McGowan at CWilkersonMcGowan@gannett.com. Follow her Twitter: @chloe_mcgowanxx.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis festival, events will celebrate Black joy this weekend
