Black History Parade & Festival Grand Finale
The twentieth Annual “Karamu! Celebrate!” statewide Black History Parade and Festival will be held on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, in Columbia, S.C., the historic Waverly and Five Points communities. The Grand Marshal for 2025 will be the Honorable Senator Maggie Glover. The first African American woman to be elected senator. Grand marshals, parade participants, local entertainers and vendors from across the state and past years will come again to participate in the
GRAND FINALE of this event. Due to the current atmosphere, we're adding laughter to the event with a special performance by comedian Annie McKnight, Drama, Comedy, Stand-Up www.anniemcknight.com
Parade participants and vendors are still being accepted and registration continues. Applications to be a part of this event are due by Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. To register your church, groups, schools or organizations, contact Oveta Glover at 803-361-5470, via email at [email protected] or online at www.fundsinc1.org. Floats may be retrieved from Southeastern Float Co. 803.917.0644; however, decorated trucks, cars, bikes, walking groups and marching bands are also permitted and encouraged to participate.
“Karamu! Celebrate! – The South Carolina Black History Parade & Festival 2025” in Columbia, S.C., and is sponsored by Friends United as a Neighborhood Developmental Society Inc. (F.U.N.D.S. Inc.) “Karamu” is a Swahili term for “celebration.” In the Swahili culture, festivals and feasts are celebrations of significant events in the lives of people.
Established in 2005, the parade's initial focus was the celebration of Black History Month in the United States and the recognition of the many significant contributions of those of African descent in South Carolina, America and the global village. The parade expanded its focus to contributions of other ethnicities in 2012. The purpose of “Karamu! Celebrate! – The South Carolina Black History Parade and Festival” is to educate, entertain and celebrate those achievements; hence the parade motto, “Education Through Entertainment.”
For more information, visit the parade website at www.fundsinc1.org.
For interview requests, contact F.U.N.D.S. Inc. chairwoman Oveta Glover at 803 361-5470 or via email at [email protected].
Event Links
Facebook: https://go.evvnt.com/2879656-0
