Pan African Festival turns 30

The Tubman Museum will celebrate 30 years of the Pan African Festival in a three-day celebration of love, peace, unity and hope this weekend.

What began as a grassroots effort in the 1990s at Central City Park — now Carolyn Crayton Park — has grown into a yearly attraction, drawing around 5,000 people from all over the country and internationally to the weekend festival, said museum chair Arizona Watkins. 

“It was a small festival that started on the bed of a pickup truck,” she said.

Watkins, chair of the committee since 2017, began volunteering with the Tubman Museum at age 14. She became director of the museum’s children’s services at 16 and worked with board members to develop the first festival.

Since its inception, the annual celebration continues to grow with additions like professional staging and international acts to the Afrocentric Ball, which Watkins added to the event lineup four years ago.

The festival is about culture and connectivity, she said, adding that each year she looks forward to “seeing how the community has come together to create something out of nothing.”

Watkins credits festival founder Chi Ezekwueche with creating this staple event that fosters cultural understanding and appreciation within the community.

Ezekwueche moved to Macon in the 1980s, bringing with her a love of museums and community activity.

In Nigerian culture, every month there is a different community celebration or event, she explained, which led her to believe that’s what Macon was missing. 

As chair of the Tubman Museum board from 1996-98, Ezekwueche and her fellow board members came up with the festival programming because they “wanted to make a difference in our community.”

Not everyone frequents museums, but the festival is a way to reach a broader audience and “take the museum to the people,” Ezekwueche said. 

For tickets and the full festival schedule, visit tubmanmuseum.com.