5th Annual For The Culture Festival Celebrates Black St. Louis

On Sunday, Aug. 13, the fifth annual For The Culture Festival will be held in St. Louis, Missouri. The festival is a celebration of all things Black St. Louis and includes games and booths for Black-owned businesses.

According to KSDK, the founder of the festival, Ohun Ashe, moved the festival closer from Forest Park to Loretta Hall Park in order to have it closer to St. Louis’s Black community. Ashe briefly discussed the history of the celebration, telling the outlet that the celebration came from humble beginnings, with only one BBQ pit and ten vendors.

According to the group’s Facebook page, this year’s celebration will feature over 70 Black vendors, a skate party, a stage for live entertainment and a therapy panel.

The group’s website states #ForTheCultureSTL is intended to “connect black people with black owned businesses and events around the city,” and has a directory of all things Black St. Louis, anything from Black-owned restaurants to Black-owned lawyer firms and legal services.

St. Louis’ For The Culture Festival is a timely event for local business owners and entrepreneurs, as August is National Black Business Month. Incidentally, August also marks the month 18-year-old Mike Brown was killed by police officer Darren Wilson—and the spark of uprising and protest in Ferguson, St. Louis. The event is the catalyst for Ashe’ organizing the cultural festival:

“Mike Brown Jr. and the Ferguson uprising had a direct impact on the founding of ForTheCultureSTL,” AShe told Feast Magazine. “It pushed me to become more active and immersed in our community in a multitude of ways. One big way was supporting Black-owned businesses.”

The ForTheCultureSTL festival is free and open to the general public. People interested in attending the event can register here.