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Entertainment

Heritage festival gets 'bigger and better'

Events for the Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival will be spread around the city this year.

By KEVIN GRAHAM
Published January 13, 2006

TAMPA - Do an Internet search for "Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival," and the results yield nearly 500 hits.

"The festival is doing just what I envisioned," said founder Samuel L. Wright.

It's gaining more attention every year.

The festival debuted in 2001 to coincide with Super Bowl events that year in Tampa. Nearly 3,000 people attended, with the main event centered on a street festival.

Last year, attendance numbers swelled to about 30,000. The Southeast Tourism Society lists the cultural celebration among its Top 20 events of 2006.

"We say it's something for everyone, and it really is," said Teddy Pierre, one of the festival organizers.

This year, that includes entertainment by national recording artists, black history exhibits and a lecture by Bishop Desmond Tutu, recipient of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize.

The weeklong festival kicks off today with a first-time event in the lineup, a heritage gala. It's an afterwork gathering where attendees are encouraged to wear dressy attire.

Contemporary R&B/jazz ensemble Five Men on a Stool will perform tonight. The gala begins at 7 p.m. at the Wyndham Harbour Island, and tickets for the event cost $35 per person or $60 per couple.

A noticeable change in this year's festival is its venues. The University of South Florida won't be used as much as it has been in the past. Instead, organizers have scheduled events around the city.

Organizer Felecia Wintons said they opted for more central locations and places along the city's bus route.

The street festival, for example, usually held at USF, will take place Saturday and Sunday at Al Lopez Park next to Raymond James Stadium. Scheduled to perform there are Midnight Star, the Bar-Kays and Oleta Adams.

Monday's schedule is the busiest day of the festival with the Tampa Bay Organization of Black Affairs' Martin Luther King Jr. leadership breakfast starting at 6:45 a.m. It's the week's one event for which Pierre advised, "Don't just show up." The breakfast usually sells out in advance.

There will be a golf tournament later that day, and the festival will coincide with longstanding parades for Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Tampa and St. Petersburg.

"We'll have people picking and choosing where they want to go," Pierre said.

Putting on the event this year will cost festival planners more than $100,000, Pierre said. That number goes up to about $300,000 overall, he said, "when in-kind types of things are tallied in."

"We've been very pleased with the direction that the festival is taking," said Karen Brand, spokeswoman for the Tampa Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau, which helps sponsor the event. "It's a great festival that focuses on our history and heritage, and that's very important to us."

Brand said the festival works as a marketing tool to sell Tampa to people who could come back for vacation or to live and work.

"It is such an important aspect to our community's character," she said.

Naomi Carrier wants to take a piece of that character back with her to Houston. She plans to attend the Tampa festival and learn as much as she can from Wright with hopes to found a similar celebration in Texas.

"I looked at several festivals (online) but was impressed with what Dr. Wright has done," said Carrier, an educator. "What else impressed me was that you didn't just start it. You started it and it caught on every year, to be something bigger and better."

Kevin Graham can be reached at 813 226-3433 or kgraham@sptimes.com

For a complete schedule of Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival events, go to www.tampablackheritage.org or call 1-888-224-1733, ext. 143. Here is a partial list:

HERITAGE GALA, featuring Five Men on a Stool

Wyndham Harbour Island, 725 S Harbour Island Blvd., Tampa

$35 per person or $60 per couple; Tonight at 7

STREET FESTIVAL

Al Lopez Park, 4810 N Himes Ave., Tampa

Free; Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., featuring Midnight Star and the Bar-Kays; Sunday, noon to 6 p.m., featuring Oleta Adams

FESTIVAL OF BANDS AND DRUMLINE EXTRAVAGANZA, featuring the Florida A&M University Marching 100

Tropicana Field, 1 Tropicana Drive, St. Petersburg

$10 in advance, $12 at the door; Sunday at 6:15 p.m.

TAMPA BAY ROUNDTABLE LUNCHEON, with guest speaker civil rights advocate Xernona Clayton

34th Street Church of God, 3000 N 34th St., Tampa

$10 (limited seating); Tuesday from noon to 1:30 p.m.

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA LECTURE SERIES presents Bishop Desmond Tutu

USF Sun Dome, 4202 E Fowler Ave., Tampa

Free; Thursday, 7-9 p.m.

HISTORIC CENTRAL AVENUE "GET ON THE BUS TOUR"

Begins and ends at 1505 N Nebraska Ave., Tampa

$10, includes lunch (limited seating); Jan. 21, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

[Last modified January 13, 2006, 01:45:18]