Overview: Honoring a rich music scene
Join North Minneapolis on Sunday, July 26 for its historic, free Jazz Festival & Heritage Festival featuring Jamecia Bennett, Walter Chancellor, Ashley DuBose, and over 50 local vendors.
For the first time, North Minneapolis is hosting a free Jazz Festival & Heritage Festival on Sunday, July 26, honoring the city’s rich music scene.
The event features a lineup of jazz, soul and R&B artists, including Jamecia Bennett as the headliner, Wenso Ashby, Walter Chancellor, and Ashley DuBose.
The festival is co-owned and partnered by Strong Roots Foundation, Black Women’s Wealth Alliance, and the West Broadway Area & Business Coalition.
One of the festival’s organizers and co-hosts, Kenya McKnight, comes from a background in music. Growing up around steppers, DJs and dancers exposed her to smooth jazz.
“My stepfather and my mom were epic steppers in Minnesota to help expand the culture here, and I’ve just really wanted to dedicate space to the arts,” she said.
The north side has contributed immensely to global music, but McKnight said it never had the chance to claim and honor its legacy until now.
“Up until this point Black artists had been features of jazz festivals, not the owners, not the whole show but features,” McKnight said. “And in this space we get to be all of that.”
McKnight went on to say she hopes the event creates a pathway for generations of people to continue as those who came before them did.
“We need to be lifted, right? From our own energy, from our own souls, from our ancestor roots, and a lot of that is carried through this passage of music,” she said.
The community can explore more than 50 vendors, including food, crafts, retail goods, along with a dedicated children’s zone, plant bingo, health and community resource booths, roller skating on the parkway, and an adult lounge.
Festivities run from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. along West Broadway and West River Parkway on the riverfront.