Celebrating Africa Celebrating Africa (February 13, 2004)

Local fair honors Black History Month

By Dan Stapleton

On Sunday, Feb. 29, Mountain View will celebrate Black History Month with an Afrocentric Faire that will showcase the art, clothing and culture of African and African-Americans. The fair will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Mountain View Community Center located at 201 South Rengstorff Avenue.

Event co-organizer and Mountain View Library Foundation board member Rosiland Bivings says the loss of the Afribbean Festival, which celebrated both African and Caribbean culture, in 2002 inspired her to fill the void with a new fair. "There's nothing much around other than the Kwanzaa season to showcase Afrocentric art and history," she said.

Bivings expects the fair to draw a large multicultural crowd. "I think we'll have a good turnout because it's free and open to the community," she said. The fair is being funded by the Mountain View Library Foundation and the Wakerly Foundation.

"The Library Foundation supports and eagerly promotes any opportunity for education and diversity to be displayed. There are so few opportunities that I see that really target people of color and the contributions and recognition they have given or received. We are glad that we can provide and support this type of event," said MVLF board president Susan Hamilton in a press release promoting the event.

For the past five years, Bivings and the library foundation have collaborated to celebrate Black History Month in Mountain View. Previous years' events have included art shows, film festivals, and last year's talent show, all of which have been well attended and successful, according to Bivings.

This year's fair promises something for everyone. "We're expecting 30 vendors with everything from children's' book authors, to clothing, skincare products, art and sculpture," said Bivings, who is still working to bring more entertainers and vendors.

One of the vendors lined up for the fair is Chester Johnson, who owns an African-inspired clothing store in Sunnyvale with his wife Sandra called Touched By Africa. "We have clothing and accessories from around the world, specializing in free-sized garments. The clothes cross ethnic lines and don't just cater to African-Americans. We have clothing based on authentic African designs or African-inspired designs," he said.

Johnson called the idea of an Afrocentric fair long overdue, and looks forward to the opportunity to promote African culture to the community. This will be the first time his store has participated in this kind of event, but if the fair is successful, Johnson said it is something he would like to continue to do in the future.

Another vendor is Linda Larry, who owns Déjà Vu Antiques in Redwood City, where she sells a variety of African-American dolls, figurines, bears, and other artwork.

"I'm looking forward to it," she said. "I'm bringing dolls and bears, and maybe a few clothing items, as well as figurines by Thomas Blackshear and Brenda Joysmith, who are both black artists. I also plan on bringing some black vintage dolls and black memorabilia, and some artist bears."

Larry says she regularly attends doll shows and blues festivals, but this will be her first time participating in a Mountain View event.

E-mail Dan Stapleton at dstapleton@mv-voice.com

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