The Atlantic Beach Gullah Geechee South Carolina Organization will host its annual Culture & Nature Festival on June 23rd – 25th, 2023 on 30th Avenue South, the main street in Atlantic Beach. The event aims to highlight and celebrate the historical relevance of Atlantic Beach and the Gullah Geechee values of resilience, self-sufficiency, and tenacity. The festival will include a full lineup of events of authors, storytellers, dance performances, music, evening receptions, and arts and crafts with international and regional performers and cultural historians, as well as a parade featuring dance and fashion from 1930 to the 1970s. SC Humanities supported this program with a Fast Track Literary Grant.
Atlantic Beach, South Carolina is the only African American oceanfront incorporated town on the east coast of the United States. Mr. George W. Tyson purchased 47 acres in 1934 along 29th Avenue South and 30th Avenue South, including the property along the oceanfront, wanting to ensure that black families had a place to engage in family activities.
The festival will commence with a ticketed sponsorship social on Friday, June 23rd, a parade and festival on Saturday, June 24th, and will close on June 25th with an interfaith, beachfront service held to honor African American story and culture keepers. The featured speakers are noted performing artist and cultural preservationist Ron Daise and photographer, author, and Civil Rights hero Cecil Williams. They will both speak at the opening meet and greet, and Ron Daise will also present “Gullah Tings fa Tink Bout,” songs, poetry, and information about the importance of Gullah Geechee culture and heritage, on Saturday, June 24th. More information about the festival and its schedule can be found on the website: https://atlanticbeachscgullahgeechee.org/.
Atlantic Beach Gullah Geechee Culture and Nature Organization is an organization established to preserve, share and interpret history, traditional cultural practices, heritage, and natural resources associated with the Gullah Geechee people of the coastal Atlantic Beach, South Carolina.
The mission of SC Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. Established in 1973, this 501(c) 3 organization is governed by a volunteer 20-member Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state. It presents and/or supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos and other humanities-based experiences that directly or indirectly reach more than 250,000 citizens annually. South Carolina Humanities receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as corporate, foundation and individual donors. The National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.
