Fresh Fest Cleveland, the free festival hosted in the Urban Agriculture Innovation Zone on Rid-All Farm and Otter Park, returns this weekend with art installations, DJs, live music, health and wellness activities, a farmer’s market, local vendors, a kid’s zone and more.
The event itself is Saturday, Sept. 11, from noon to 9 p.m.
Hosted by Rid-All Farms, which was co-founded by Keymah Durden, Randy McShepard and Damien Forshe, who turned an empty piece of land in Cleveland’s Kinsman Neighborhood into an urban farm occupying 26.5 acres, the festival emphasizes inclusiveness.
“Our goal was to invite not only community members from the neighborhood, but all from across the county and state to see what can happen in Garden Valley and at this destination location at the Rid-All Farm Campus,” says Executive Director of Environmental Health Watch, Kim Foreman. “We had huge success for our first year and want to create the same type of experience in 2021. One of our aims was to support local artists and entrepreneurs of color, as and to demonstrate that a culture and arts focused festival of scale can happen in this community.”
DJ Spinderella is the headlining act and other live performances will include Kyle Kidd, Gumbo Dance Party, Chelsea Pastel, Sammy DeLeon Latin Jazz Group, Red Rose Panic, and Jah Messengers.
If fest-goers are worried about parking, there will be free shuttles dropping visitors off from parking lots at Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority at 8120 Kinsman Road and St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church at 7903 Kinsman Road from noon until 9 p.m.
Following the fest, on Sunday, Sept. 12th from 1 to 2:30 p.m., the Sculpture Center will present “Artist Talk: Ancestral Roots” with artists Charmaine Spencer and Gary Williams who will talk about their work in “Crossroads: Still We Rise,” on view at The Sculpture Center through Sept. 25.
That exhibit includes work by twelve artists who worked to create dialogue with residents in six primarily Black neighborhoods.
The talk will be followed by a tour of Rid-All Green Partnership.
This article appears in Sep 8-21, 2021.