The 12th annual Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival will take place from January 12-21, 2012. The theme of this year’s celebration is “Keeping the Dream Alive” and features a variety of events which strive “to increase diversity and cultural sensitivity. The festival always takes place before and after Martin Luther King Day.
There are a wide variety of events including seminars, music, art, crafts and poetry. Among specific events are a financial business seminar and Heritage movie night on January 12, a two-day Heritage Street festival begins on January 14, the Martin Luther King Jr. parade and the TOBA Annual MLK Jr. Leadership Breakfast on January 16 and the University of Southern Florida Lecture series starts on January 19.
The two-day Heritage Street festival is the centrepiece of the Heritage Festival. It features musical entertainment, six “villages”, food concessions and craft vendors. The villages consist of an Artists Village, an Author’s Village, a Children’s Village, a Greek Village, a Health Village and a Corporate Village.
The Corporate Village will feature local Tampa businesses, allow them to promote their businesses and to hand out promotional items. Those businesses in attendance have to opportunity to tell the public about their products and services. Most of them will have arranged with local brochure printers ahead of time to help them create informational literature that people can take with them. The Children’s Village will be held at the Glazer Children’s Museum and will feature lots of activities for the kids including face painting, arts and crafts and storytelling.
