The Sandfield Eighth of May festival returns for its eleventh year this weekend.
The party begins Friday night at 7 p.m. at the corner of 24th Street South and Fourth Avenue South in Columbus, with music from DJ Tall Paul and Margie and Keith. The festival continues all day Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m., with live gospel rap, gospel mime, gospel dance ministries and gospel singing. DJ Tall Paul and Margie and Keith return Saturday night.
The Eighth of May festival was born in 1999 from former Sandfield resident Michael Farmer”s desire to bring the community together. The original festival was held in the parking lot of Farmer”s mother”s beauty shop, Martha”s Kut and Kurl.
Martha Gordon, Farmer”s mother, says her son battled drug use following the death of his older brother, Ray Farmer, 29, from natural causes in 1994.
“When he did come to himself and got off drugs, he wanted to do something to clean the community up,” said Gordon.
After speaking with his grandmother, Irene Mixon, also a Sandfield resident, Farmer chose to reintroduce the tradition of a May festival. He gathered a group of performers for entertainment and residents brought covered dishes.
By its fourth year, the festival had grown too large for Martha”s parking lot and moved to its current three-lot location at 24th Street South and Fourth Avenue South. The land was a donation from James Edwards, owner of Edwards” Grocery. The Columbus Parks and Recreation Department, Joe Edwards of Cash Distributing and the Sandfield community collaborated to erect a covered pavilion at that location in 2005.
Since its inception, the festival has been a home to traditional gospel music as well as gospel rap. Farmer, a gospel rapper, performed at the first Eighth of May festival. Hip-hop has been a part of the festival ever since.
Gordon says the hip-hop at Eighth of May never contains profanity. Rappers will perform in between traditional gospel sets Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Gordon said Farmer may perform at this year”s festival.
She says Sandfield residents love the mix of music, food and fellowship.
“The community has responded very well. It”s been an overflow,” she said. “People come home (for Mothers Day) and look forward to the Eighth of May. I had a guy from California who was there last year call to see what was happening this year.”
The festival has grown so large that event parking has to be designated.
Joe Stephenson, president of the Sandfield Horizon Committee, says it”s his job to “direct all the traffic,” literally and figuratively.
Vendors at the festival will sell barbecue, fish, polish sausage, nachos, snow cones, drinks, cakes, cookies, purses, jewelry, kids inflatable toys and more. Games for children include the moon walk, sack races, hula hoop contest, one on one basketball and others.
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