Odunde Festival 2012

I was lucky to be able to attend the Odunde Festival in Philadelphia this year.  A local organization here in Baltimore set up a bus trip, and I was able to purchase a ticket, and attend the bus ride.  This was my first time being able to attend the Odunde Festival, so I was actually a bit excited.  The ride up was entertaining enough; we watched two documentaries about the black hair care industry, one independently done by a brother named Aron Ranan called "Black Hair", and Chris Rock's so-so (imho) documentary called "Good Hair".  It was very interesting to see which perspective both men took in their respective films.....

It was a nice, bright, sunshiny day.  It was on the warm side, but not bad at all for June.  The people that I went on the trip with made it seem as is it was very hot and humid; it wasn't.  Note to self: next time I go on a trip like this, either go by myself, or with some people in my age group.  The trip wasn't bad by any means; not at all, and I did have a good time.  The bus trip was mostly older people, and they tended to get a bit fussy, and overheated.

Odunde was nice, if a bit compact.  It was a bit hard to move around, and see all of the different vendors.  People acted as if they didn't know how to walk around, or properly stop by a vendor without clogging up the whole walk space.  It made it slightly irritating to have to stop every third step or so because people kept stopping at different tables, talking to the vendors.  At the same time, it was kinda sad; you saw the effects of gentrification and how it was affecting the neighborhood.  Some even wondered aloud if Odunde would even continue to be held at it's current location.

The organization that I went with had a table with them, so as to hand out some of their literature, and other information that they had.  I was a bit dismayed, considering the fact that they had placed their table on one of the side streets, where there was very little foot traffic.  It also irritated me that they kept moving the table to stay out of the sun.  Like I had said, it was not THAT hot that day.  And since when are black people afraid of a little sun?!?!  You'd think these people were vampires or some other nocturnal creature, the way they were acting! All dressed up in African attire, yet you're running from the sun....

smdh...

All in all, it was a positive experience, and I was even able to sell a few copies of my books.  I hope that I can return next year, hopefully as a vendor this time (if I can afford their vending fees).  I think that it is good to be able to experience as many cultural festivals as possible, especially one that you haven't been to before.  I'm hoping that I can attend a few more festivals before the summer is out.  Here's to good fortune.