Annual Zora! Festival celebrates its 35th year with food and fun for everyone!
Photo by Thaddaeus Watkins/Distinct Images.
Photo by Thaddaeus Watkins/Distinct Images.
Special to the Outlook
The 35th annual ZORA! Festival, taking place in Eatonville, Fla., is shaping up to be another wonderful event. This year, organizers are affectionately referring to the event as the reunion festival.
“The 35th annual ZORA! Festival, ‘The Reunion,’ is going to be fantastic, with something for everyone, from the toddler to the great grandmother and everybody in-between,” said N.Y. Nathiri, one of the event’s organizers.
The festival is in full swing, but a lot of its signature events are set to begin towards the end of January. Probably the most significant collector and interpreter of southern, African American culture, Zora Neale Hurston is the dominant female voice of the Harlem Renaissance era. In her works, she celebrates her hometown, Eatonville, as representative of the dignity and beauty of rural Southern, African-American life and culture.
The ZORA! Festival is America’s longest running arts and humanities festival celebrating the cultural contributions of people of African ancestry throughout the Diaspora. The festival comprises public talks, museum exhibitions, historical tours, stage performances, arts education programming, a humanities-based conference, and an Outdoor Festival of the Arts.
The event has family-friendly pricing: all children get in for free and general admission parking is also free. Additionally, on Jan. 26, the festival’s “Education Day,” is free for everybody.
There is something for everyone indeed.
“Variety is one of the things we do best,” Nathiri said. “For the foodies, we have a real treat with two events, one with DaJens Eats entitled ‘Dinner & A Class’ with celebrity vegan chef Jenn Ross, and the other called ‘An Evening Inspired by Zora Neale Hurston,’ curated by Chef Crystal Clarke. For those interested in ideas, the Afrofuturism Conference, being held Jan. 25-27, makes sure that we are not wasting minds.”
And of course, for those who want to treat themselves and loved ones to the complete cultural experience, the Zora! Outdoor Festival of the Arts, there will be held Jan. 26-28. Adult general admission is $20 and a two-day ticket is $30.
Additional information is available on the website zorafestival.org.
