From the Cupid Shuffle to traditional African drumming, music filled the air all day Saturday, Sept. 14 at the Austin Town Hall Park, 5610 W. Lake St.
Chicago Austin Youth Travel Adventures (CAYTA) was celebrating its fourth annual GhanAgain Festival, a free event celebrating African culture.
CAYTA is a nonprofit that uses travel and education to empower marginalized youth, and the GhanAgain Festival fundraises for an annual trip to Ghana.
“This is our annual fundraiser that helps us raise funds for the youth to go to Ghana free of charge, ages 13 to 22,” said Crystal Dyer, president of CAYTA. Dyer said the trip will include 10 participants.
“The kids here in Austin are landlocked here at the west end of the city, and a lot of times they don’t get to interact with other cultures, even in school. And so, this way they get to see that in real life, that we are all alike,” said Dyer.
That is also the goal of the festival, aiming to expose community members to new experiences and connect with their African roots.
One way the event did this was through food, having caterers like Rasta Jamaican Grille and Badou Senegalese Cuisine fill the air with the smell of barbeque and spices.
Live music provided a variety of genres, including African music, gospel, jazz, R&B and rap.
“It’s so important because most of the time on the West Side there’s single vision type events, either there is blues or there is gospel,” said Dyer. “This festival brings the world to Austin and brings all types of artists, from all genres of music, so the community can have a real festival to really embrace the whole world of music.”
The family friendly event had children playing in a bounce castle and dancing to the music while grandparents relaxed in lawn chairs, eating bountiful plates of food. Entertainment included everything from traditional dancing and singing to unique events like capoeira.
Susie Lewis was behind the counter for Sage & Shea African Boutique and was selling shea butter and African attire.
“The performers were awesome. They had some Ghana dancers, we had some West Side artists here today,” Lewis said.
Many came dressed to impress in beautiful African garb, which was being sold by many vendors at the festival, as well as jewelry and skincare products.
“It’s been really nice, the dancers, the drummers, the jazz, the children, the food, amazing — fried rice, cabbage, jerk chicken — and just meeting some of the people around here,” said Yvette Cook, an Austin resident who was selling waist beads, earrings and oils at the festival.
“We need to do this more, and it needs to be done more often. So, we need to try to get that going so we can come together more often,” she said.
Dyer said that CAYTA will be having some ongoing fundraisers, including a reception in March at the Epiphany Center for the Arts to close out its fundraising for the Ghana trip.