The 40th Odunde Festival, A Chance To Showcase Africa’s Culture & Heritage
As the 40th Odunde Festival got underway Sunday in Center City, a steady stream of women admired the African clothing that Nana Maindoo-Yeboah was selling from her booth on South Street.
One tried on a gold-colored gele, a piece of traditional Nigerian headgear, while others complimented Maindoo-Yeboah’s cotton wax print dress, which flared below the hips.
Maindoo-Yeboah left her corporate job 20 years ago to sell the clothing, often at festivals such as Odunde, which organizers say is the largest African American street festival in the country. But she said the market for her wares has dwindled as Chinese manufacturers have sold clothing with African designs at much lower prices, both online and at big-box stores such as Target.
“I wanted to go online, but I’m afraid they’d steal my designs,” said Maindoo-Yeboah, who lives in Milwaukee.
For some folks - vendors and festivalgoers alike - Odunde was a chance to immerse themselves in African culture and heritage in a way that can be done only face to face. The streets of Philadelphia’s Graduate Hospital neighborhood brimmed with people, as vendors hawked anything from wings to carved wooden statues to books on African American history.
A New York-based painter who goes by the name Akassa sold acrylic-on-clay, Egyptian-inspired paintings, none of which you can find on Google. He said one of his paintings ended up on a postcard that was printed in Italy.
“I don’t like the Internet,” he said. “They steal my stuff.
Author J.M. Benjamin said that he had learned to sell his books on websites such as Amazon, but that he prefers meeting people face to face. Some of his titles are fiction, such as Ride or Die Chick. He has also written nonfiction titles such as From Incarceration 2 Incorporation.
Benjamin said that he sold 200 books his first year at Odunde, in 2007, and that he expected to sell 100 at most this year because online demand for his work has grown.
“I am one of the few [authors] who still comes out and interacts with the people,” Benjamin said.
James Koger, 70, a retired engineer who lives in Northern Liberties, arrived looking for a walking stick made in Africa or at least by someone from there.
“You can find one on the Internet, but you can’t pick it up and feel it and tell what it weighs,” he said.
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