CLEVELAND — "We're here just to bridge the gap between the youth and elders at the same time, show the community, how we can come together to have fun instead of destroy our community. It's about improving our community. And then at the same time, educating our community."
Fresh Fest Cleveland is a celebration in the Kinsmen area that brings together healthy eating, art, and fellowship all in one of Cleveland's most hidden locations. But to understand the event, you first have to understand the urban farm that hosts it.
Many people don't know about the Rid All Green Partnership. It's been in place for about 11 years. It's an agricultural farm that educates and supplies food to the food desert that surrounds it. Dave "Dr. Greenhand" Hester is a founding member.
"I'm one of the partners presently involved in this campaign that we got going on here far as teaching people, how to become sustainable and become more aware about the foods that they ate," said Hester.
The event is a way to help them spread their message. And if 2019's festival was any indication, their method is more than successful.
The festival was put on hold because of COVID-19 last year, but in 2019, more than 6,000 attended. Biz Markie performed for the crowd. This year, the crowd was even bigger.
Aside from food, music, and performers, the crowd could browse items from clothing, jewelry, and arts and crafts vendors.
As Rid All clocks another successful Fresh Fest and starts preparing for the next year, they also reflect on the reason why they hold it.
"The community doesn't experience enough love. We get talked about so badly that we don't even know that we have love inside of us. So this right here, it's an opportunity for us to express that love through music, through art, through entrepreneurship, through food, through conversation," said Aharon Ben-Keymah of Fresh Fest.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The video in the player below is from a previous, unrelated story.