The First Afrifest happened in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, MN with events from August 17th-20th. It all started as a crazy dream to recreate the African Festival of the Arts in Chicago plus Cedar fest (A multi-cultural music festival that used to occur every summer in Cedar/Riverside area). The first Afrifest in 2007 started off on a really bad note. The collapse of the 35W North bridge (About 6 blocks from the festival site) occurred 2 weeks before the start of Afrifest. This dramatic and traffic event caused complete chaos-the closing of roads to the festival, and the dampening of any celebratory mood. As if that was not enough, the festival was further tested with unprecedented rainfall over the festival weekend. The entire festival was rained out and was moved indoors to the Brian Coyle Community Center.
The first festival was saved on the last day by the performance of Lucky Dube, which was produced by Demo at First Avenue on August 20th. It was an electrifying and spellbinding performance by one of Africa’s greatest performer, unfortunately it turned out to be his last in Minnesota as he was tragically killed in South Africa later that fall.
Produced by Nextainment, LLC in 2007-2008, Afrifest was meant to showcase the cultures and music of a growing and diverse Pan African community in the Twin Cities and Minnesota. It quickly became the biggest event the company produced and it was decided at the end of 2008, that Afrifest would be spun off, as it’s own organization to produce the festival.
The Afrifest Foundation, a Minnesota non-profit organization, was founded in March of 2009 to produce the festival and other events to further the festival motto of "Enlightenment, Diversity, and Unity."
Afrifest is unlike any festival being held in the Twin Cities and it will continue to grow and evolve. Although started under less than ideal circumstances, it’s the tireless work of passionate and dedicated volunteers, community leaders, and well-wishers that allow Afrifest to continue on in its mission and objectives.
Find out how it all started and the inspiration behind Afrifest. Click Here for an original article written by Nathan S. White, the organizer of Afrifest in September 2006.