*After Taste of Soul (TOS) had been on a three-year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic, founder/creator Danny J. Bakewell, Sr. brought back the annual event in 2022 and crowds flocked to attend “the largest block party on the West Coast.”
Initial fears that an early morning rain would keep people away appeared unfounded as thousands filled Crenshaw Boulevard – from Obama Boulevard to Stocker Street – to enjoy the 17th Annual Taste of Soul Family Festival on October 15th.
With rain on their faces, sloshing through puddles of water, the people were undaunted. Detailed planning was obvious. The coordinated teamwork of security, vendors, Sentinel employees and volunteers was impressive. Hopes were high that the festival would not get rained out. There was so much enthusiasm and anticipation in the air!
The rainy weather was a reminder that just three nights before, at about three in the morning, southlanders were awakened to an unusual downpour of rain announced by unsettling and disturbing thunder and lightning. A few days before that, there was another unsettling and disturbing storm of another color as three Latino city council members and an elected Latino labor leader were called upon to resign as a leaked secret tape revealed some of their disparaging racist and homophobic remarks recorded during a back-office meeting. Despite the circumstances, hope held out that all the planning and preparation for the TOS festival would not be in vain – that the community would somehow come together in love and unity as it had in years past.
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The Bakewell Media stage – where classic and contemporary R&B music artists performed – was also the designated VIP gathering place where Mr. Bakewell joined onstage with many other city leaders and dignitaries to greet the exuberant crowd, while encouraging them to vote. Just as they began to share the microphone to speak around 2:15pm, the threat of more rain started to dissipate when the clouds began to roll away, and blue skies began to appear. During her comments, Congresswoman Karen Bass, a candidate in the L.A. mayoral race – alluding to the weather change – declared symbolically, “the storm is passing over!” as she raised her hands and looked to the sky.
Maryam Brown, president of SoCalGas said: “Absolutely wonderful…it’s great to have Taste of Soul back and the experience of everybody coming together…fabulous…!”
Jackie Dupont-Walker, founding president of Ward Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) said, “This is an opportunity for our community to always come together to regenerate, to be reminded of what we’re about, and ‘whose’ we are!”
Shared among a diverse and inclusive crowd of thousands of Angelenos, was a great sense of joy, pride, protection, and connectedness. Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson said, “We’re happy to be back here in person, feeling the energy of each other, and the energy of this great party. This is what Los Angeles is all about…come rain or come shine.”
Columnist Larry Buford
Larry Buford is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer. Author of “Things Are Gettin” Outta Hand” and “Book To The Future” (Amazon). Email: [email protected]
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