Columbus hosts Ohio Black Expo in Genoa Park over Memorial Day weekend

For the primary time in almost 30 years, the Ohio Black Expo will return—in individual—to Columbus throughout Memorial Day weekend.

The four-day affair will heart Black life, enterprise and tradition by way of workshops, networking alternatives, leisure and different occasions.

The celebration kicks off Thursday at 9 a.m. with a free enterprise convention at Enterprise Suite in King-Lincoln/Bronzeville, and culminates with the Riverfront Tradition Fest, which runs Saturday by way of Sunday at Genoa Park. The lineup options nationally famend musicians Kelly Value and Rotimi, together with native artists, together with J Rawls, Paisha Thomas, TrigNO and the Flex Crew.

Pageant tickets are $20 for a single day and $30 for each days. Extra info, together with a full expo schedule, will be discovered at ohioblackexpo.com.

Organizers have booked over 100 Ohio-based distributors and count on anyplace from 10,000 to twenty,000 attendees. Town of Columbus, Spectrum and Huntington Bancshares are among the many many sponsors. And proceeds will profit youth and group packages. 

Ohio Black Expo founder and board chair Rhonda Robinson mentioned one in every of her predominant targets is to offer publicity for Black-owned companies.

“Our historical past entails Black companies,” mentioned Robinson, 70, of the East Aspect. “We’ve all the time had it, however we haven’t all the time acknowledged it. It’s vital for our younger folks to know the place our Black companies are and to help them.”

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Robinson acknowledged that want again in 1980 when she registered over 70 distributors for the Columbus Black Conference. The next 12 months, she fashioned the Columbus Black Expo, which was held at Focal Level Park in Mount Vernon Plaza on the Close to East Aspect for seven years.

As she drew extra distributors and attendees all through the state, she modified the identify to the Ohio Black Expo and moved the occasion to the Franklin County Veterans Memorial Downtown, the place it drew over 30,000 folks. She hosted the celebration in Dayton in 1992 and in Cincinnati the subsequent two years earlier than retiring.

Robinson mentioned she noticed a continued want for the occasion, and was impressed to convey it again in 2020 earlier than the pandemic hit. As an alternative, she pivoted to internet hosting a digital convention for the final two years.

Now that the Ohio Black Expo has formally returned, she is passing the torch to Sherri Hamilton, who’s president and CEO.

Hamilton mentioned she is impressed by what Robinson was in a position to accomplish within the early days.

“I’m blown away at with the ability to do this with out the web, with out social media, and not using a mobile phone,” mentioned Hamilton, 54, of the East Aspect, who works in expertise as a full stack developer. “It is unbelievable. She actually went door to door and located these nice distributors. (They) have been so blissful to have the publicity. And the those who attended have been so blissful to find out about new Black companies.”

Though expertise has helped Black-owned companies, Hamilton mentioned the necessity for advertising help persists. 

And regardless that the racial justice rebellion of 2020 put a brighter highlight on Black-owned companies, it nonetheless isn’t sufficient, she added.

“It’s nonetheless such an unbelievable problem,” she mentioned. “We’re not supporting Black companies on the stage that we must always.”

Donald Dennis, Huntington’s chief variety, fairness and inclusion officer, additionally underscored the significance of serving to Black-owned companies amid the pandemic.

“Because the number-one SBA lender of quantity within the nation, we’re really conscious of the wants of small companies to get again to the place they have been earlier than March of 2020, particularly Black- and minority-owned companies,” he mentioned. “We all know that these companies have a a lot tougher time by way of some historic disadvantages and we’re working to assist them get again to pre-pandemic ranges.”

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Dennis mentioned Huntington determined to sponsor the expo as a result of its mission was aligned with the corporate’s efforts to have interaction communities of shade, that are traditionally underserved by banking establishments.

Branden Jones, co-CEO of Enterprise Suite, mentioned his workforce jumped on the likelihood to host the expo’s enterprise convention and different workshops.

“Now could be the time to come back collectively to develop into prospects and enterprise companions,” mentioned Jones, 36, of Bexley, additionally a co-founder of expertise initiatives Coloration Coded Labs and BLK Hack. “Expos are vital since you get to place all companies and providers and the entire issues that Black of us have to supply in a single house to convene. All people that goes into enterprise needs to achieve success, however all people would not have the entry to the identical assets and instruments.”

The convention will characteristic myriad audio system, together with Adam Troy, chief engagement officer of the Group of Caring Growth Basis, the nonprofit arm of New Salem Baptist Church in North Linden.

“I’m sufficiently old to recollect when the primary (expo) was held,” Troy mentioned. “Having a possibility to easily stroll down the road and watch all of that cultural power was inspiring. And so, I’ve all the time felt a must help the return of the Black Expo if, for nothing else, to have the ability to give this subsequent era that very same kind of feeling.”

The expo additionally will distribute awards to a number of particular friends with ties to Ohio, together with singer Shirley Murdock, faculty basketball participant Zia Cooke, entrepreneur and creator LaRese Purnell and gymnast Nia Dennis.

Hamilton mentioned she and Robinson have tried to create an occasion that appeals to a couple of section of the Black group.

“It is actually for everybody,” she mentioned. “Our mission general is to enhance the standard of life for Black folks in Ohio.”

ethompson@dispatch.com

@miss_ethompson