The Seventh Avenue Heritage Festival has come a long way from a DJ in a flatbed trailer.
The annual three-day festival and Main Street parade drew crowds of more than 10,000 people to the avenue, which was a hot spot for black business and entertainment in the 1960s and ”70s.
The Jackson State University “Sonic Boom of the South” band led the parade, which winded from Catfish Alley on Fourth Street South to the area of 15th Street and Seventh Avenue North.
The parade was followed by the unveiling of a Mississippi Blues Trail historical marker near where the Queen City Hotel once stood.
The hotel, which was demolished in 2007, played host to music giants like B.B. King, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Fats Domino, Little Richard and James Brown.
In line with the avenue”s rich musical heritage, chart-topping R&B artists Dru Hill headlined the event, which was named a top-20 event in the Southeast for September 2010 by the Southeast Tourism Society.
The festival has really only “blossomed” in the past eight years, said Festival Chairman and Ward 5 City Councilman Kabir Karriem. Now, the event is one of the largest in the region.
“It”s a celebration of the great spirit of Seventh Avenue,” he continued. “Without the heritage of the great men who”ve gone before, we wouldn”t be where we are now.”
The festival breathed life back into the dilapidated neighborhood Saturday as people like Columbus resident Lora Robinson-Spann packed the avenue.
“I came to hear some good music and eat some good food,” she said that afternoon. “I got both and the best is yet to come.”
“It”s great, great, great good clean fun,” added Gail Brandon, who traveled from Huntsville, Ala., for the festival.
The benefits of the event include its ability to bring the community together and attract out-of-town visitors, said Ward 6 Councilman Bill Gavin.
“(The festival) spreads out over the entire city,” he added.
But the express purpose of the festival is to honor the entrepreneurial sprit of black businessmen who made the neighborhood into a cultural icon, Karriem said.
“At one time, this was all we had,” he added. “This was the center of business for African-Americans. That”s what this festival is all about.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 28 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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Tyrone Gardner, in the foreground, a veteran of Operation Iraq Freedom, salutes Ret. Sgt. Maj. Allen Clinton, on stage to the left, and Spc. Randy Robles during the singing of the National Anthem at the Seventh Avenue Heritage Festival Saturday. Photo by: Tanner Imes
