The YMI Cultural Center presents the 28th Annual Goombay! Festival

From staff reports

The festival opens at 10 a.m. Friday; traditional drumming and dancing begins at 1 p.m. on the Main Stage, followed by a 4 p.m. performance of the famed Free Spirit Drummers and Dancers. At 5:30 the Reggae Infinity Band will appear on the Main Stage, followed at 8 p.m. by the acclaimed Heather Hayes Band, led by the daughter of the late, great Isaac Hayes.

Come stroll Goombay! Experience this Caribbean, African American festival packed with unique art, crafts, food, and entertainment.  Photo: Urban News

On Saturday the festival opens at 10 a.m., and special events begin at noon with the annual Goombay parade, featuring the outstanding student marching band from Winston-Salem’s Carver High School. Additionally, Free Spirit stilt walkers, joined by drummers and dancers, will march and dance from Pritchard Park, to Pack Square, to Marjorie Street, to Eagle and South Market Streets at the heart of the festival. The parade will climax with the symbolic dove release at the Main Stage.

Among the performers on Saturday will be the Oneaka Dance Company at 2 p.m., Jazz Affect at 3:15 p.m., Free Spirit Drummers & Dancers at 4:30 p.m., Sweet Dreams (R&B) at 5:30 p.m., and Free Flow (R&B) at 7 p.m. Closing the Goombay Festival is the reggae music of Inner Vision on the Main Stage. No activities are scheduled for Sunday.

Goombay originated in Bermuda and various Caribbean islands, where for one day each year slaves were permitted to celebrate as free citizens. Known in the Bahamas as “goombay” and in Jamaica as “gumbay,” the name derives from a traditional skin-covered African drum called a “gomba” or “gombey.”

Asheville’s first Goombay festival in 1982 was sponsored by the Friends of the YMI at the urging of Gloria Howard Free, who had learned about Goombay while she was attending a sorority event in Florida. Mrs. Free successfully persuaded the Friends of the YMI to sponsor the festival as a way to raise funds and motivate the community to support the Cultural Center. Asheville’s Goombay celebration attracts more than 35,000 visitors each August.

The YMI is the nation’s oldest freestanding black history center, celebrating African American culture and heritage since 1892. It is a member organization of Pack Place Education, Art & Science Center in downtown Asheville and is supported in part by its membership.

Located at 39 S. Market Street in downtown Asheville, the YMI has honored and celebrated Western North Carolina’s diverse cultural heritage and history for more than a century. It includes art galleries featuring the work of nationally renowned as well as regional artists, and its collections and historical exhibits reflect the history of African Americans and other minorities in Western North Carolina.

Friday, August 28, 2009
    1:00 PM    Opening – Drumming & Dancing (Main Stage)
    4:00 – 5:00    Free Spirit, Drummers & Dancers
    5:30 – 7:00    Reggae Infinity (Main Stage)
    7:15 – 7:45    Po Folks     (Main Stage)
    8:00 – 9:30    The Heather Hayes Band (Main Stage)
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 Saturday, August 29, 2009
    12:00 Noon    Parade – featuring Carver High Marching Band, Drummers & Dancers, Stiltwalker
    1:00 PM    Community Showcase – Goombay! Drummers and the Free Spirit Drummers & Dancers
    1:30 PM    Dove Release
     2:00 – 3:00     Oneaka Dance Company
     3:15 – 4:30    Jazz Affect     (Main Stage)
     4:30 – 5:00    Free Spirit Drummers & Dancers
     5:00 – 6:30    Sweet Dreams – R&B (Main Stage)
     7:00 – 8:00    Free Flow     (R&B) (Main Stage)
     8:15 – 9:30    Inner Vision – Reggae (Main Stage)
Schedule subject to change.

For more information on Goombay! 2009 and current YMI exhibits, call
(828) 252-4614 or visit the YMI web site at www.ymicc.org. 

Goombay! is cosponsored by many of Asheville’s leading businesses, organizations, and institutions, as well as the City of Asheville and Buncombe County. Sponsors for 2009 include the Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa, Progress Energy, Pepsi Cola Bottling Company of Hickory, Volvo Construction Equipment, Mission Hospitals, Budweiser of Asheville, and AT&T.
Goombay! Top 100 Sponsors 2009

Investor – $500 & Above
Raymond Spells, Jr.

Speculator – $100 & Above
James & Diane Abbott
Agnes B. Jones
Anonymous Donor
James E. King
Nina D. Baten
Jean & Bruce Larson
Charles B. Bolden
James Pitts
John Brenhardt
Ray & Allen
Funeral Service Inc.

Speculator – $100 & Above
Sandra Martin Davis
Julia G. Ray
New Morning Gallery
Pauline B. Rollinson
Gama Gama
Omega AKA
Marjorie S. Scavella
Sallie Graves
Richard & Eula Shaw
Mary Hutchison
Willie E. Vincent

Grassroots – $99 & Below
Willle Mae Brown
Oveda Hunter
Rosa E. Davis
Leah R. Karpen
Sophie Dixon
Priscilla Ndiaye
Carol Goins
Barbara L. Pagan
Florence Green
Western NC Jazz Society
Jacqueline Hallum
Susan M. Walton