SPRINGFIELD — The Hickory Street Harambee 2024 kicked off Saturday, already stretching its newly expanded location at Samuel A. Bolden Park. From classic fairground rides and midway games to food booths and live music, the celebration of Black culture in Springfield attracted thousands of people for its first day.
The festival was started in 1968 by state Rep. Raymond Jordan and a group of friends and supporters. The original Harambee, a word that means “we pull together” in Swahili, was just the thing to coalesce the Black community at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. The original Harambee faded out in the 1990s.
