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Devarrick TurnerKnoxville News Sentinel
July 29, 2026, 4:49 a.m. ET
- The Kuumba Festival, celebrating African diasporic culture, returns to Chilhowee Park in 2026 for the first time in a decade.
- Now in its 37th year, the three-day festival will feature West African drumming, dance, food and vendors.
- This year’s theme, “Honoring our roots. Inspiring our future,” highlights the event’s multi-generational impact.
Over 30 years ago, kids drummed and danced to West African rhythms in Chilhowee Park during the Kuumba Festival. Many of them will return for this year’s festival, this time dancing and drumming with their own children.
The 2026 Kuumba Festival begins July 31 at Market Square and continues Aug. 1-2 at Chilhowee Park, returning to the park for the first time in about a decade. The annual festival celebrates African diasporic culture through performances, food trucks and African-centered vendors.
“It’s almost like returning back to our roots,” organizer Obayana Ajanaku told Knox News. “It gives you a family reunion vibe.”
And that’s the theme for this year’s event: “Honoring our roots. Inspiring our future.”
Kuumba is more than a festival to Ajanaku, who sees it as a “platform” for showcasing local artists while allowing generations to reconnect, pass on traditions and make new memories.
The drumbeat that brings Knoxville together
Kuumba is now in its 37th year in Knoxville after starting back in 1989 when local Black-led organizations came together to create a celebration rooted in African culture, particularly through West African drumming and dance routines.
“It was a need when they (originally did it), just to kind of give our people and our community a festival for ourselves,” Ajanaku explained.
It led to West African drum and dance programs being offered in some Knox County Schools by the mid-’90s, and students showcased what they’d learned at each Kuumba Festival. Ajanaku called the tradition the “silent heartbeat” that brings Knoxville together.
Over time, Kuumba expanded to include musicians, Afrobeats and reggae groups, African clothing and art for sale, and a variety of food options.
“Subconsciously, over the years … people have been able to express themselves and use it as a form of healing whether they knew it or not,” Ajanaku said. “That’s the significance to me, is to have representation in the city. Give our whole community a sense of representation and have a platform.”
And one of the things Ajanaku is most excited about for this year’s Kuumba is seeing parents who once performed drum and dance routines at the festival 20 or 30 years ago return and perform with their own kids.
“I want people to just feel like they’re connected to Knoxville through the Kuumba Festival,” he said. “I want people to feel a sense of unity, a sense of pride, a sense of celebration.”
Investing in community and culture
Returning to Chilhowee Park also means more than simply going back to a venue space. Kuumba has deep roots to the park, but it’s been about 10 years since the festival was last held there. But when Ajanaku announced it would going back to Chilhowee this year, the Facebook post was flooded with memories.
People remembered watching Erykah Badu and Lyfe Jennings perform, and dancing to Jodeci, Floetry and Bilal during the festival. Others recalled their youthful drum and dance performances, and even milestone moments like their first kiss.
Those stories are part of what keeps Ajanaku motivated to host Kuumba year after year, even as organizing it becomes increasingly challenging. Funding that once allowed Kuumba to bring popular artists like Badu and Jennings has become harder to secure as other festivals and community organizations compete for the same dollars
But rather than dwell on what has changed, Ajanaku is focused on what remains possible through the community’s economic power. Anyone can donate to the festival at drumsupgunsdown.com, a violence prevention program Ajanaku founded that produces the drumming routines at Kuumba.
“We can fund anything that we want as a community,” he said. “And I don’t want them to look at it like it’s a donation. I want them to look at it like it’s an investment. You’ve invested in something that’s here and that we want to continue to be sustainable.”
Carrying the Kuumba legacy and passing the baton
The mission of uplifting the community was instilled in Ajanaku by his mother, Nkechi Ajanaku, who was one of the founders of the Kuumba Festival and dedicated nearly the last three decades of her life to the event.
“My mom really put her heart and soul into making sure our community can have something that was our own,” he said. “She just never quit. It didn’t matter how much funding she got, whether it was a whole lot or a little bit.”
Since he took over the festival after she died in 2017, he’s held on to her “find the good and praise it” philosophy as he’s faced fundraising challenges and contemplated the festival’s next chapter.
One way he hopes to carry his mother’s legacy is by eventually establishing a Kuumba seed fund that could help other grassroots organizations launch festivals, nonprofits and community projects of their own.
“To me, it’s like it’s y’all’s turn. Let’s help you put your thing on,” Ajanaku said of other Black-led organizations emerging in Knoxville.
During her time, Nkechi Ajanaku would often train people how to organize festivals and helped the next generation.
“I want to kind of do that in my way. I think, the most important now, where we are today, is people need help. People need funding for their ideas, and I want to kind of be one of the people that help,” he explained.
For nearly four decades, Kuumba has introduced generations of Knoxvillians to African music, dance, art and culture. It’s where the community reconnects with its roots while inspiring the future.
When to attend the Kuumba Festival
The 2026 Kuumba Festival will be noon-10 p.m. July 31 at Market Square and 2-10 p.m. Aug. 1 and 2 at Chilhowee Park.
Devarrick Turner is a trending news reporter. Email devarrick.turner@knoxnews.com.
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