This Fall, thousands of festival-goers participated in Afro Fest in Omaha, NE., where they celebrated African culture by way of cuisine, fashion, dancing, live music, and information about the African diaspora.
Afro Fest, founded in the summer of 2018, has grown exponentially. What started out as a festival with less than one thousand people, quickly grew to upwards of five-thousand people attending the fest, and it’s only getting bigger.
Joubel Teko, co-founder of Afromaha LLC, as well as the producer of Afro Fest Omaha, and co-producer of Afro Fest of Dallas, Houston, Minnesota and Nashville — said the festival highlights the “socio-economic impact of the Afro-diasporic communities that live in Nebraska through education, arts, music, fashion, food and entrepreneurship.”
“Afro Fest by Afromaha works hard to create a space that represents all regions of Africa and the Afro-Diasporic cultures,” Teko said. “We have integrated in our system a way to give access to those communities to have a platform whether on stage as performers, as vendors selling items that represent their communities, or by curating experiences that highlight who we are as a continent and share Afro Culture heritage.
From the performers, to the cultural dress and cuisine, Afro Fest allows people the opportunity to experience the vibrancy of the whole continent of Africa and its vast and unique regions — so they can not only gain deeper knowledge, but have fun and make connections at the same time.
Teko said that the planning behind Afro Fest involves “a village of people,” with various expertise to make the festival the best it can be in every city they host the festival — with work starting two weeks after the previous event took place.
Volunteers and organizations including the UNO ASA executive team, vendors of the African Market and Food Row, help make the festival its most successful.
“We make sure our team selects the right vendors to represent the Afro- cultures,” Teko said. “We try to make sure the different regions of Africa and Afro, black cultures are represented at the festival through food, fashion, and the entertainment portion of the event. Afro Fest by Afromaha is all about education so the best way to educate the community here is by representation.
Teko said that Afro Fest’s goal is to “connect, create and inspire.”
“Seeing people come together at Afro Fest Omaha or other Afro Fests we are curating throughout the country is a dream come true,” he said.
Teko hopes to bring more people from around the region to participate in the festival, saying; “We encourage people from different ethnic backgrounds of the African Diaspora and beyond to not hesitate to reach out, we have a platform for them.”
Afro Fest Omaha 2024 had a great turn out, with attendees enjoying the new festival site. Next year, Afro Fest will be held at the Heartland of America Park, with details to follow on their website.