The 3rd annual African Descent Festival gets underway at Thornton Park on Main Street this weekend, July 22 – 23, 2017. Presented by the African Descent Society, the festival is a celebration and promotion of the arts, culture, and music of the African descendants who make up Vancouver’s often unknown rich African history.
Vancouver boasts a vibrant and long-standing African descendent community, going back to the historic Hogan’s Alley, the first and only neighbourhood in Vancouver with a highly concentrated African-Canadian population. Hogan’s Alley, not far from where Thornton Park stand now, came to an end with the construction of the Georgia Viaduct, part of a proposed freeway which destroyed most of Hogan’s Alley, but was halted in time to spare Chinatown and Gastown. African Descent Festival commemorates the lives of the African descendants that lived then and the communities that are continuing to be fostered today.
Entertainment includes 30+ artists over the weekend of July 22 and 23, headlined by South African top reggae star Nkulee Duke. The festival also boasts an African Fashion Show curated by Zao Zeus Mohammed, traditional dances, a marketplace, tours of historic Hogan’s Alley, crafts and many guest speakers. The African Descent Festival takes place at 1166 Main Street, beside Main Street-Chinatown Skytrain Station and is a free community event but donations are welcome. Festival marketplace and events run 10am – 8pm Saturday and Sunday. For a full line up and event details visit africandescentfestival.com