Looking at Seventh Avenue North, it’s hard to tell the street was once a bustling entertainment district centered around the Queen City Hotel.
But when Seventh Avenue was at its peak, it was filled with Black-owned businesses, including restaurants, clubs, shops and more. District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks said he remembers when the hotel was filled with celebrities and the avenue was “the place to be.”
“Seventh Avenue was kind of an entertainment center for Black folks,” Brooks said. “The Queen City Hotel housed Black baseball players from the old Negro League, because there was no other place for them to stay. And of course, you had entertainers coming into Columbus to perform and clubs along Seventh Avenue. … There was always something going on.”
Though the last of the Queen City Hotel was demolished in 2008, District 41 State Representative and festival organizer Kabir Karriem said the history of the district has not been forgotten, as the annual Seventh Avenue Heritage Festival will be returning to the city this week.
“The reason we do the festival is to bring awareness to hopefully the revitalization of the area and to make it the business district of Columbus that it once was,” Karriem said.
This year’s Seventh Avenue Heritage Festival will kick off at 6 p.m. Wednesday with the Community Impact Awards ceremony at the Rosenzweig Arts Center. Karriem said the award ceremony will be followed by a town hall meeting, discussing the future of Seventh Avenue.
After Wednesday’s kick-off, the festival will include three more days of events, all at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 15th Street North. This includes a movie night starting at 6 p.m. Thursday, a ‘90s Block Party and fish fry on Friday starting at 4:30 p.m., and a parade and Gospel, Blues and R&B celebrations on Saturday starting at 10 a.m.
“We’ve had major entertainers from all across the country play the stage,” Karriem said. “K-Ci & JoJo (has) played the stage, Bobby Blue Bland, Ginuwine, Dru Hill and this year is no different. We’re celebrating 50 years of hip-hop and we’ve brought in some really big names in the rap industry.”
This year, the festival’s block party line-up on Friday night includes West Love & the 478 Band, Fuzzy Jeffries and the Kings of Memphis and DJ Elmeezy. On Saturday, following the Gospel, Blues and R&B Celebration, there will also be performances by Webbie and Big Boogie.
Karriem said he remembers the festival starting when he was a child with the businesses in the area putting on customer appreciation events. But since he took on organizing it more than 20 years ago, he said the festival has grown into “the biggest free party in Mississippi.”
“This festival is community-driven and we just want everybody to come out and have a good time,” Karriem said. “Come early, stay late. We’re expecting a huge crowd this year, and we just want people to bring their lawn chairs and come early so they can get a good seat.”
While Brooks is not on the board of the heritage festival, he said he looks forward to attending the festival every year, and will be doing so again this year, to talk with festival attendees and hear about the future of Seventh Avenue.
“We talk about hoping this festival creates some interest in bringing people to the table to explore what a revitalization of Seventh Avenue would look like, and what Seventh Avenue will look like in the future,” Brooks said. “… I guess the festival would be the main event to start that dialogue.”
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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 40 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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