About Phoenix Fest
When it’s fall, it’s time for Phoenix Fest -- sponsored by Phoenix Crossing and Phoenix Square Shopping Centers. Phoenix Fest is an annual cultural celebration of the business and cultural legacy of Durham’s Hayti community, one of North Carolina’s oldest African American communities. Our mission is promoting cultural understanding through music and business opportunities.
• Vending Bazaar opens at 11 am
• All day music onstage from 11 am – 6 pm
In celebrating Hayti's legacy, the 22nd annual Phoenix Fest will again live up to its reputation as Durham's funkiest street music festival when Fayetteville Street is blocked off and transformed into a bustling bazaar, all-day music, delicious food and dazzling vendor displays that will deliver a fun-filled day for thousands of festival goers. The all-day festival features some of the best musical talent from North Carolina and the southeast, with performers entertaining festival goers with non-stop reggae, gospel, R&B, blues, jazz and hip-hop. Food and merchandise vendors will offer lip-smacking delicacies and eye-pleasing vending displays to delight festival goers of all ages -- all taking place on historic Fayetteville Street under the warm Carolina sun. Bring your lawn chairs and umbrellas and stay the whole day. At Phoenix Fest, you're bound to see old friends and make some new ones. Admission to Phoenix Fest is free, it’s fun and it’s for the whole family! From the festival’s opening parade to the last performer on Center Stage, Phoenix Fest will honor Hayti’s dual legacy of business and the arts by hosting some of North Carolina ’s finest musical talent and some of the nation’s best business people! Please join us at this year’s Phoenix Fest on Saturday, October 1, 2011 from 9 am til 6 pm on historic Fayetteville Street. History of Hayti
Legend has it that the mythical phoenix firebired rises from its own ashes every 500 years after being consummed by fire. Like the mythical bird, Phoenix Fest celebrates the enduring legacy and renewal of Durham, North Carolina ’s Hayti community. Long known as a mecca for African American business, Hayti was also a focal point for music and the arts. Fayetteville Street, one of Hayti’s main corridors, figured prominently in this picture. Its dual business and cultural legacy are a testament to the men and women who labored to develop this community over one hundred years ago. Their persistence of spirit and self-reliance deserves a celebration in a location befitting its history. After the Civil War, African Americans in Durham organized for a common purpose and created the Hayti community. Durham was considered a place of opportunity — for African Americans and for whites. Hayti was significant not only for the presence of African Americans but for their ability to amass sufficient capital to build a thriving business sector supported by black patronage and strong enough to compete with white businesses. The growth of Hayti and the Fayetteville Street Corridor provided capital for the formation of African American financial institutions on Parrish Street in downtown Durham and for the growth of numerous African American neighborhoods throughout southeast Durham. In its heyday, Hayti was home to over one hundred fifty businesses clustered along Pettigrew and Fayetteville Streets. Self-contained and energetic, this area thrived despite Jim Crow segregation that gripped the state of North Carolina and America. During this era African Americans practiced “self help”, worked together and created a vibrant economic district all their own. Durham was unique in having a booming business district alongside a vibrant cultural scene with many types of music flourishing in and around Durham, including Piedmont Blues, gospel, jazz and R & B. Its legacy must not be forgotten. The tradition of working together is still alive today as new businesses and residents are returning to the Fayetteville Street Corridor to restore the area to its former position of prominence from generations ago. Mission of Phoenix Fest
Phoenix Fest affirms the African American cultural traditions that allowed our ancestors to work collectively to build a thriving community despite tremendous obstacles and challenges. These traditions -- exhibited through music, dance and entrepreneurship -- lie at the core of the African American experience in Durham and throughout the United States. Music is the universal language and Phoenix Fest brings it to the street, free for all to enjoy. So come early and stay all day.
