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Historic community marks its 25th reunion
Tents are already up in Seaview Park where the homes of Africville once stood.
This year’s Africville Reunion is special: normally it’s a weekend event, but organizers are making it a week-long festival from now on.
Irvine Carvery, with the Africville Geneology Society, said this year is their 25th anniversary.
“Time really does fly, but it’s something that everybody looks forward to every year.”
The annual gathering is more than a remembrance of a community which stood for about 150 years. It was bulldozed, starting in the 1960s, to build a bridge.
“The importance of (the reunion) is monumental,” Carvery said. “This gives us an opportunity as a society to present our culture and traditions to young people.”
He expects an average of 1,000 people to walk through the park in the next week.
“We have people coming home from all across Canada, the United States and from all over Nova Scotia,” he said. “It’s going to be a very exciting week.”
Flea markets, musical entertainment and picnics are a few of the events planned for the week.
“What’s not listed in our events is we are expecting the Paramount Chief from Ghana, Africa to arrive,” Carvery said. “That would be the equivalent to being the king.”
The dignitary is expected to perform a traditional African libation ceremony on Monday night.
The Freedom Schooner Amistad will be making another visit at this year’s reunion and Joe Sealy’s concert at the Neptune Theatre on Thursday is excitedly anticipated.
“Joe is a descendant of Africville. When he father passed, he wrote a piece called the Africville Suite,” Carvery said. “It’s music reflecting the culture and people of Africville.”
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