Afro Utah Fest lost some sponsors after new anti-DEI law passed, but it continues to grow

When Gloria Mensah’s day started, she didn’t imagine herself on stage, keeping up with an “intense” Soka dance. But she couldn’t help but feel “the bait” of the beat — nor the insistent crowd and DJ encouraging people to join in.

Earlier, Mensah had opened Afro Utah Fest’s first program: The Flag Parade Ceremony.

Bearing flags from African countries across their chests, necks or as a headscarf, around 30 people paraded through the audience, rhythmically in tandem with Shakira’s “Waka Waka” played by Kool DJ Double O.

Kaye Thomas, 42, led the group’s dancing on the outskirts of the stage minutes before the ceremony, swinging the Jamaican flag while side-tapping to the beat. “It was the highlight of my day,” Thomas said. “You can’t help but dance, especially when you know the music.”

Over 5,000 people joined Saturday’s festivities, getting their fill of African food trucks, local Black vendors and live music spread out across Library Square and 200 East.

Organized by the GK Folks Foundation, a nonprofit providing resources to small Black-owned businesses, the event has almost doubled in size since its start four years ago, having to relocate from previously setting up shop at the Gallivan Center.

Following the murder of George Floyd and during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Black-owned businesses reached out to the foundation for help, Mensah said.

The nonprofit, centered on providing mental health, education and entrepreneurship resources, decided to create a “one-stop shop” to celebrate Utah’s Black, African and Afro-immigrant communities.

“The one thing we can do is bring all the community together on one day so people can see them, patronize them and know where they are,” Mensah, executive director of GK Folks Foundation, said on Friday.

While the event has grown, Mensah said the foundation lost sponsors following the state’s passage of an anti-DEI bill.

“Most of our sponsors were like, ‘We need to restructure. We need to make sure we’re not doing something that’s against the law,’” Mensah said. “I’m hoping that [the bill] doesn’t affect [us] long term.”

In 2023, 19 companies sponsored the event, according to the Afro Utah website. This year, those sponsors dropped by more than half; seven companies, including Zions Bank and Wells Fargo, continued to financially support the festival.

Since 2020, the festival’s theme has been “Unity in Diversity.”

“Even though we’re from different regions, different races, we just wanted all of us to be one and have a united voice,” Mensah said. “That’s the beauty of the world, the fact that everybody’s different.”

Gina C. Alfred, a GK Folks volunteer, has helped since the nonprofit hosted the Miss Africa Utah pageants. Living in Utah for 23 years, Alfred said she has developed an extended family through the organization.

“I get a little homesick,” said Alfred, who is from St. Louis. “But [the Fest] being a community event for everyone — celebrating culture, celebrating community, celebrating each other — I just love it. I love everything about it.”

At the Afro Eats booth, smells of charred meat and fried plantains wafted through the space. Carmen Fontes worked a grill, flipping turkey tails and marinated drumsticks.

Her husband, Martin, took orders, striking up conversations with customers in French and English. Her sister-in-law and business partner, Julie Kithima, finished transactions — packing up orders and managing payments.

Their friend, Salam, who works at GK Folks, reached out to them because many in the foundation knew about their food. “We’ve had people recognizing us,” said Fontes, 34. “And a lot of people [are] meeting us for the first time and they love our food.”

Across the street in front of Salt Lake City Hall, hungry Fest patrons crowded the Namash, Balabé and Makaya Caters food trucks. Roody Salvator owns the latter and said he believes “more people need to try Haitian food.”

The “Pork Bowl” is his favorite — his preference lying more with “rice and beans over plantain” — but he recommends the “Creole Platter” to anyone getting a first taste of the cuisine.

Salvator usually spends his Saturdays at the Downtown Farmers Market but has made sure to bring his food truck to the festival every year.

“It brings my type of people,” Salvator said. “It’s Afro-centric and focuses on minority-owned businesses — Black-owned businesses — because we need to put ourselves out there … all of that will give us a step up … one step up in the ladder of the American dream.”

Goods from body butter to clay figurines were sold near the fest’s second stage. Set in the public library’s sunken plaza, the stage featured African drum lessons, Brazilian Samba and an Open Mic led by the Utah Black Artists Collective.

In her first spoken word performance at Afro Utah Fest, Afia Chin recited “Magic,” which highlights “the power of melanin,” history and ancestry. She found the piece to connect with the audience, she said, hearing snapping and hums of agreement as she performed.

Chin called the festival “an exciting and beautiful sight,” and believes the event offers an opportunity for camaraderie, connection and cultural exposure.

Donato Raimondo owns Tumaini Arts Africa and sells handmade items made by South Sudan women refugees living in Kenya. Tumaini means “hope” in Swahili, a Bantu language spoken widely in East Africa.

Raimondo calls himself a “pioneer of the Afro Festival,” as he was one of the first vendors to participate.

”I would consider myself an ‘Africanist,’” Raimondo said. “An Africanist means ‘I have heart.’ I have African in my heart all the time. So when I hear something about Africa, I take it personally and as my responsibility to show up and represent.”

Maryan Shale, a student engagement program manager at Weber State University, brought a group of about 20 students. She co-advises the African Student Union, a college group that often collaborates with the GK Folks Foundation.

Her friend, Portia Anderson, works at the University of Utah and said, “It’s important for cultural events like this” to continue.

“With HB 261, it’s really hard to feel welcomed or ‘like you belong’ in the state,” Anderson said. “So the fact that this continues on and it’s sustained, is important.”