41st annual Gullah Festival draws thousands to Beaufort waterfront

BEAUFORT, Sc. (WTOC) - The 41st annual Gullah Festival brought tens of thousands of visitors to the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront this Memorial Day weekend to celebrate the history and culture of Gullah Geechee descendants.

The Original Gullah Festival of South Carolina honors descendants of Western Africans brought to the Lowcountry in bondage hundreds of years ago. It is recognized as the premiere celebration of Gullah culture in the U.S.

“If you are coming to the Gullah Geechee Festival, you are coming to, I feel, the essence of the Lowcountry itself,” said Chase Polk, a festival attendee.

The weekend featured live music, dancing, theatrical performances and workshops designed to immerse visitors in Gullah culture. For many, the focus was on education and preserving history for future generations.

“A woman just walked by and pulled her son close and showed him one of the signs and said, you know, this is your culture, you need to read this, you need to understand and appreciate, and that’s what I think this weekend is about,” said Luana Graves Sellars, founder of the Low Country Gullah Foundation.

Mary Anderson, a vendor and workshop instructor, led hands-on classes teaching participants to make Shek’er’res, a traditional West African instrument.

“People are so receptive to listening and understanding what the culture was and what we do in our class. We give you hands-on learning on how to make these useful instruments, something that you can take for the rest of your life, and I love it,” Anderson said.

Visitors traveled from across the country to attend the festival.

“We are a beautiful diverse nation, and in order for us to keep being diverse, we need to keep teaching each other things about each other,” Anderson said.

The festival concludes Sunday with an Hour of Power worship service at 9 a.m. and fireworks at 9:30 p.m.