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Date: 12/15/2022
SPRINGFIELD – The Boys & Girls Club Family Center is gearing up for their upcoming holiday events starting with its first ever Winter Festival on Dec. 21 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. and the annual citywide Kwanzaa celebration run by the Afro Cultural Arts & Humanities on Dec. 26 from 12 to 5 p.m. The Kwanzaa celebration is one of the largest in the city of Springfield. Both events are free and open to the public, located at 100 Acorn St.
Executive Director Keshawn Dodds said, “The biggest goal is expose people to what is going on at the Boys & Girls Club Family Center and how we connect community to the club, but also community to culture and what we are doing throughout the year.”
There will be two phases of the Winter Festival. Food trucks, s’more’s stations and music will be outside in the parking lot while vendors, crafts and various activities will be inside for people to do their last-minute shopping for the holidays. There will also be bounce houses, craft tables and hot chocolate tables, plus a surprise visit from Santa. The idea for the festival came from the center’s program director Raeven Jemison. She came up with the concept of doing this last year, but their previous program director Tony Malone passed away and wasn’t able to host it.
Dodds stated, “This year we wanted to bring it back and have it as an honor to him, but also to our community to get everyone ready for the holiday season.”
Throughout the years, the Kwanzaa Celebration has grown to see over 300 people. This year will feature live performances and lectures for the listening audience. Kwanzaa is a celebration of African American culture which runs between Dec. 26 through Jan. 1. It was created in 1966 by activist Maulana Karenga, based on African harvest festival traditions from various parts of West and Southeast Africa.
“This is a great way for our community to learn and understand the importance of the principles of Kwanzaa as well as supporting our community of Black business owners,” Dodds added. “There are seven principles and seven days of Kwanzaa that we celebrate, and every day is a different principle.”
He continued, “It starts off with the first principle, Umoja which means unity. We want people to understand when it comes to unity, we have to support our community and also our businesses, our small business owners in the Black community.”
After COVID-19, many of the businesses have closed and lost support. The center wants to bring that support back to them and have them out as vendors, Dodds explained. This year’s theme is remembering yesterday and building for tomorrow in remembrance of those who sacrificed and worked tirelessly to create a foundation to help the community forge forward for the next generation of leaders.
“We are a pillar of the community,” Dodds said. “We’re here to help and expose people to different avenues of life and opportunities. With these two events we’re bringing the community and city together outside of COVID-19 because we’ve been away for so long and knowing we can have fun, fellowship and be one big family as the city is.”