Seventh Avenue Heritage Festival returns, honoring entertainment district’s legacy

The Seventh Avenue Heritage Festival returns to Columbus next week, building on more than 40 years of celebrating the historic entertainment and business district.

Festival Organizer Kabir Karriem, who also serves as the District 41 state representative, said the festival has come a long way from how he remembers it in the beginning.

“What started out as a humble celebration of businesses at that time in the area doing customer appreciation – having hot dogs and balloons for the kids and a little flatbed truck with a DJ on it – has turned out to be an award-winning event,” Karriem told The Dispatch on Tuesday.

Marketed as “the biggest free block party in Mississippi,” the festival will take over the corner of Seventh Avenue and 15th Street North starting Oct. 4 for two days of musical performances, vendors and culinary experiences.

The neighborhood was a thriving center for business and entertainment for most of the 20th century, filled with Black-owned businesses, like clubs, restaurants and stores.

District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks, who helped with organizing the festival in its early years, said Seventh Avenue came to be a point of pride for the Black community. Brooks remembers hanging out in the district on the block in front of the Queen City Hotel when he was in high school.

“The Queen City Hotel has been noted for Black entertainers, Black players in the baseball league staying there because they couldn’t stay in any other places,” Brooks told The Dispatch on Wednesday. “But for us, it was a hangout place.”

The hotel, which was demolished in 2008, played host to a long list of sports and entertainment royalty, from Don Newcombe and Jackie Robinson to B.B. King and Ella Fitzgerald.

“Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland, who we had come before he passed, played at the Seventh Avenue Festival and remembered staying at the Queen City Hotel,” Karriem said.

The festival pays homage to the neighborhood’s history as a center of African American life in Columbus, but Karriem said it also has a second purpose.

“We do the festival as a reminder to the community and to the nation that this area needs to be revitalized,” he said. “It serves as a historical place in our town and in our history.”

The festival kicks off Oct. 4 with southern soul and R&B artist Ronnie Bell, followed by performances from 2 Piece & A Biscuit and Artistik Music Entertainment. Local DJ and talk show host Rick “Don’t Go” Mason will host Saturday’s festivities, which includes performances from Vic Allen, Magic One, Tre’ Williams and Lamorris Williams.

Aside from live music, the festival will feature a variety of food vendors, trade exhibitors and educational experiences all aimed at showcasing the district’s unique history. Karriem said the event brings thousands to the city each year, especially as alumni return to town for the Columbus Municipal School District’s homecoming festivities.

“We’re expecting a pretty good crowd that weekend because it’s homecoming weekend,” he said. “People come back home to visit the high schools, but they also come back to visit friends and family during that time.”

Karriem has organized the Seventh Avenue Heritage Festival for the last 21 years, though the tradition is more than 40 years strong. His favorite part of the festival now is seeing how far it’s come from its humble beginnings.

“It just makes me feel good for what I remember as a little kid and where we are today,” he said. “We’re proud of the entertainers that we’ve brought here. We’re proud of the people who come and celebrate with us, and we’re just excited that we’ve been able to continue the tradition of the area for so long.”

McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.