Friends and families celebrated African American culture during the 36th annual Lexington Roots and Heritage Festival.
Held from Friday, Sept. 5, to Sunday, Sept. 7, the festival featured vendors, music and a parade where school marching bands performed in a battle of the bands, including Bryan Station and Simmons College of Kentucky’s marching bands.
Local organizations and Divine Nine sororities and fraternities, such as Omega Psi Phi, also participated in the parade, marching the route along Elm Tree Lane.
Rev. L Rodney Bennett, former member of the festival’s board of directors, said the Roots and Heritage Festival helps remember the work of Alex Haley, the author of “Roots: The Saga of an American Family” and “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.”
Bennett said Haley’s work helped set up the importance of heritage and history, serving as a “catalyst” for connection.
“A people without a history of their knowledge is like a tree without roots, and so nothing can grow without roots,” Bennett said. “The roots are important because they establish the importance of connection to something that’s greater than each of us.”
He said the festival was founded upon this sense of unity as it was meant to “bring people together in harmony.”
The festival’s parade also serves a greater purpose in remembering culturally significant history, as it helps combat current efforts across the nation to erase this history, according to Bennett.
“When we come together and we participate in marches, it’s making a statement that we are standing up to be a voice for the voiceless,” Bennett said. “That we’re standing up on those principles that have resonated through our communities.”
Kiana Davis, a team mom for a youth football league, the 859 Lexington Warriors, had the opportunity to participate in the parade with her son’s team.
Having attended the Lexington Roots and Heritage Festival as a kid, Davis said she could now bring her own child to experience the festivities as she once did.
“Just being able to come down here and see the population and seeing everybody, and having a good time,” David said. “They (the children) love it.”
Davis said the festival allowed attendees to see people they don’t see often, saying it feels like the festival is where everyone can come together.
“It’s kind of like a family reunion,” Davis said.
Festival vendor Daniel Robertson said the atmosphere is something that has continually brought him back to the event, having worked the Roots and Heritage Festival about seven times before.
Robertson said the Roots and Heritage Festival was one he chose to participate in from a variety of options from all across the country, having come from North Carolina to work the event.
The cultural awareness the festival provides is a factor that makes it stand out to him.
“We get the chance to show African culture or even certain aspects of American culture that some people might not normally be exposed to,” Robertson said. “This is what America is all about, it’s a melting pot.”
