The festival kicked off with a parade down Warren Street to the Henry Hudson Riverfront Park, where the festival was being held. Sankofa was opened by Hudson Mayor Kamal Johnson, and Gregory and Elena Mosley, founders of Operation Unite. Hudson Mayor Kamal Johnson, left, opening the festival on Saturday with Gregory Mosley and Elena Mosley, founders of Operation Unite.
Performances took place throughout the day, including a stilt performance by the Brooklyn-based Kaisokah Stilt Walkers and participants in the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus’ stilt walkers workshop, and a drum circle with Ugandan musician and choreographer Godrey Opio with members of Operation Unite. Participants in the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus' stilt walker workshops performed with the Brooklyn-based Kaisokah Stilt Walkers during the festival. The festival went extremely well, Elena Mosley, executive director of Operation Unite said Monday.
“We were blessed by Mother Nature,” she said. “I was really proud of our youth and adult participants in our Uganda project performance, that was the highlight for me.” Attendees also watched a performance of the play “Estuary Tales” by the Arms-of-the-Sea Theater, and ate food from vendors stationed throughout the park.
They could also get a massage at the festival’s wellness area or make apothecary mixes using fresh herbs and flowers. Analise Sesay was visiting the festival from Kingston for the first time. Her friend organized the wellness area of the festival.
“This is my first time. It’s cute,” she said. “I was really hungry, so I got some Jamaican food, which was great.
It’s a good vibe.” The park made the festival more fun, Sesay said. “I like the location.
I like that it’s right on the water and I like to just see Black people in the sun experiencing joy and the kids running around,” she said. Children attending the festival also took part in a foam party and got their makeup done or nails painted by members of Operation Unite. The festival improves each year, Roxanne Wilkins, an attendee of the festival since 1988, said Saturday.
“It’s better every year,” she said. The festival concluded with a performance by musician and composer Ayizan Sanon and the Azelea Band, and an afterparty at The Park Theater in Hudson. The afterparty featured Naiika Sings, a musician from Long Island.
Sings enjoyed the celebration of Black culture during the festival, she said Saturday. “I love it,” she said. “The celebration of Black culture and all of the facets and nuances of it.
I am a first generation Caribbean-American representing Haiti, so it’s a beautiful thing for all of us to come together and see people from different countries.” The best part of the festival was the people, Sings said. “The love that they show, the openness, the creativity with the arts, the food,” she said.
Sings attended the festival to gauge the energy prior to her performance, she said. “I wanted to basically pump myself up and feel the energy in the space,” she said. “Music is a service, so to be amongst the community, we’re just going to give it back tonight, we’re going to turn it up, and dial it up even more.
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