Lowell African Cultural Festival, 2011 African Festival Lowell, African Festival

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Lowell African Festival attracts hundreds

102 South, a hip hop group in Boston entertains festival attendees during the 11th Lowell Annual African festival held on Saturday, June 18th at the Sampas Pavillion in Lowell.pic by H.Maina/Ajabu Media

By Harrison Maina, Ajabu Africa News, updated June 23, 2011

LOWELL, Mass_ The 11th Annual Lowell African cultural festival held last Saturday attracted close to a thousand Africans and friends from all walks of lives who enjoyed a field day of socialization and African inspired entertainment. However, many attendees interviewed indicated that the event failed to live up to its expected standards.

Having returned to the Sampas Pavilion on Pawtucket Boulevard after a mix up forced the event to be held at a park further up on Pawtucket Boulevard last year, the 2011 festival appeared to reclaim some of its allure lost in the move last year.

However, the number of attendees to the annual show was visibly much less compared to previous events, particularly compared to the 2009 edition that attracted several thousand.

Nevertheless, the 2011 edition of the event that is in it’s 11th year (official banner on the stage still said 10th Annual) took place on a clear, warm blue sky day and gave Africans in Lowell and others coming in from many other areas in New England a good opportunity to enjoy a display of their African roots while socializing.

Traditional music performers, gospel artists as well as secular contemporary performers kept guests entertained while vendors displayed various wares.

The still sluggish economy seemed to affect most of the regular vendors with many reporting slow business this year.

“It’s a little bit slow for us today. It looks like people still do not have cash to spend on luxuries”, said a man selling African traditional artifacts and contemporary arts.

However, even as they avoided spending too much on luxury items, many guests could not help but enjoy the wide variety of African dishes on sale by vendors from different African countries.

Booths vending Kenyan, Liberian and Cameroon dishes remained overcrowded the throughout the day keeping enterprising vendors on their feet and cash flowing in at a steady rate.

“Nyama choma (roast goat meat) was in high demand today and we have just run out of our supplies of the two goats we had prepared”, said Tabby Kinyanjui, a Kenyan Nurse who took a day off to exercise her entrepreneurial skills with about 5 other associates manning the popular food booth (that) has been a landmark at the festival for many years.

Guests enjoy Nyama choma at a Kenyan food booth

The event was kicked off by the Lowell Mayor, James L. Milinazzo who commended Africans in Lowell for their contribution to the social, cultural and economic development of the mill city.

The mayor also presided over a brief award ceremony where Monica Swaida, Tabitha Karanja and Manka Nkimbeng were honored by the African Cultural Association for their long time dedication to the organization and the running of the Lowell African Festival.

The festival is traditionally organized by the African Cultural Association, an organization started to promote the social cultural advancement of African immigrants in the greater Lowell area.

“This is a good thing that we as Africans in Lowell can be able to come together and have fun at least once a year and get to know one another”, said a Cameroonian National manning the Cameroonians of Lowell Association (CAMOLA) booth.

Despite the modest turnout, many attendees criticized the event organizers for what appeared to be a below the standard performance for a decade old annual event.

Many said that the scheduled program did not seem to have much for guests to take home and cause a change in their lives apart from the continuous dancing on the stage.

“It looks like the organizers have clearly run out of ideas on how to make this event more interesting than it is currently”, said a African man on condition of anonymity.

“Why are they not involving a lot of the African businesses in this area who could have donated cash and ideas to make it a bigger and better occasion and attract the more than 5,000 Africans in Lowell alone”, added the concerned African.

A jewely vendor attends to a customer

The apparent lackluster performance and attendee discontent was quickly noted by some of the organizers.

“I don’t like the way things are going today at all ”, said an organizer who requested anonymity during an interview with Ajabu Africa News.

“I hope we as Africans here can do a lot better than this in the future”, added the concerned official.

However, the master of the ceremonies, Nicholas Bull, a Liberian national from Leominster, was more vocal to the apparent situation while addressing the congregated Africans.

Congratulating the founding fathers of the Lowell African festival for the great vision they had that has become to reality, Bull added that the founders have served for far too long and are looking for younger Africans to take over and bring in fresh ideas to move the annual event to the next level.

“The founders have done their share of work to make the event become what it is today. They are now looking for younger Africans who they can pass over the baton to”, said the humorous emcee who switched roles at one time to become a vigorous traditional dancer.

Other event attendees complained that the 11.00 am starting time of the event tends to be too early for most Africans who are usually at work during overnight shifts and need some morning rest, making a majority to miss the important speeches by the mayor and other top guests.

A family and friend enjoys the outdoors

They also added that the 5.00 ending time was too early for many of them who were left hanging around Sampas Pavilion for more than two hours long after the event ended as they socialized, taking advantage of the lot's of daylight left.

However, thanking attendees for attending the event, the festival coordinator, Fru Nkinbeng, urged Africans in Lowell to cultivate the desire for volunteering in helping events like the African festival succeed in a bigger way.

The newly elected president of the Lowell African Festival, Lee Furusa, also thanked attendees for turning out in large numbers, adding that organizers were honored to be able to host the event for the sake of the Africans in Lowell.

Among the performers who entertained guests included Gospel artist, Isabella Gitau from Kenya, 102 South , a hip hop group by a mix of Liberians and Nigerians, Tildo Flex, a Liberian hip hop artiste, JP Muiruri a Kenyan secular artiste among others.

A brief but entertaining African fashion show was also staged as more entertainers became more creative with the abundance of time available.

At the end of the day, many guests were glad they attended the show hoping things will get much better next year.

Watch an Ajabu Africa Video summary below.