Chapel Hart, which plays Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival’s ‘Western Glam’ gala at TPepin Hospitality Centre in Tampa, Florida on Jan. 7, 2024. Credit: Photo by Bailey Lamar
The big, two-day music festival isn’t until next weekend, but Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival happenings kick off this weekend with community events like a Friday business seminar (“Empowering Black Entrepreneurs” in Ybor City) and Saturday’s “Run For Us” 5K at Gadsden Park.

A Wednesday leadership luncheon featuring a keynote by Willie Pearl Mackey King. The civil rights activist spent four years on the executive staff for the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for whom she typed “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” which MLK wrote on any scrap of paper he could find.

Festivalgoers will get a little music on Sunday during the “Western Glam” heritage gala headlined by Mississippi country band Chapel Hart (pictured), which turned heads (and activated golden buzzers) on season 17 of “America’s Got Talent.”

The Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival runs from Jan. 5-13 at various Tampa venues, and more information is at tampablackheritage.org.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=WLKmDbDv6j0
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This article appears in Dec 28, 2023 – Jan 3, 2024.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...