NEW ORLEANS — The Bayou Road Business Association, Black Bayou Cultural Heritage & Economic Development Association and Broad Community Connections will host HomeFest in celebration of Community Book Center on Saturday, Sept. 23 in the 2500 block of Bayou Road. The event will honor Community Book Center’s 40th anniversary, celebrate black entrepreneurship and uplift businesses and organizations on Bayou Road.
HomeFest was created in 2013 by Community Book Center’s Jennifer Turner and Vera Warren-Williams to draw people to the area.
“This event has special significance in that it represents CBC’s 20th anniversary on Bayou Road, its 40th Anniversary in business. I’m grateful to be a part in Bayou Road’s growth as a cultural commercial district, and to celebrate our alliance in advocating for community literacy, historical preservation and culture,” said Warren-Williams in a press release.
HomeFest is free and open to the public. Taking place from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., it will feature live music, food, drinks, curated activations and a variety of retail and resource vendors. The presenting sponsor, Kinfolk Foundation, will present a virtual monument activation that will immerse fest goers in local cultural history. Partners include Ashe Cultural Arts Center, the Black School and New Orleans Business Alliance.
“HomeFest prioritizes community. In a city that thrives off of tourism and hospitality, our small business owners need access to that thriving economy. Nationally, Black businesses had a closure rate of 41%, twice the national average during COVID-19. It’s vital that we support our Black-owned businesses to not only grow the revenue of their institutions, but to support the employees and ecosystem that our communities depend upon to help combat our state’s racial wealth gap and preserve our neighborhoods,” said Dasjon “Dj” Jordan, executive director of Broad Community Connections.
