AFRAM (formerly known as the African American Heritage Festival) is back. This family-friendly event is a celebration of African-American life, music, and culture. This event will feature entertainment, children’s activities, arts, history, education, financial literacy, employment and job training opportunities.
The AFRAM festival will take place Aug. 12 at The Bowl in Druid Hill Park.
This year’s event has been significantly scaled back. In previous years, the free festival ran for two days in the parking lots between M&T Bank Stadium and Camden Yards with national artists such as Brandy, Chrisette Michelle, and Common headlining the festival which greeted over 35,000 revelers each summer.
Mayor Catherine Pugh believes that scaling back the largest ethnic festival on the East Coast will help it return to its “original focus.”
“Our hope is to restore the AFRAM Festival over time to its original core value of being the family-oriented, community resource event known for its good food, home-grown talent and wealth of information,” Pugh stated in a press release.
This year’s one-day festival will include musical entertainment by local rappers YBS Skola and Tate Kobang. It will also include an Innovation Station for children.
The Enoch Pratt Free Library’s mobile job center will also be parked there assisting the community with job training and employment opportunities.