Our Growing Diversity

IN ITS SECOND YEAR, NEW ENGLAND BIPOC FEST IS BIGGER AND BETTER THAN EVER

BY ROBERT COOK, PHOTOS BY ROBERT ORTIZ

Before 2022 gives way to a new year, it is good to look back and take note of exciting events that aim to celebrate New Hampshire’s growing diversity. Such an event was this fall’s New England BIPOC Fest in Portsmouth, which brought more than 1,000 people together.

Sponsored by Service Credit Union and JGroup, the festival’s organizers sought to make their celebration of the Seacoast’s Black and Indigenous People of Color a regional event at the parking lot of the Vida Cantina restaurant on Lafayette Road. The event was held on Sept. 25 and included more than 30 food vendors, entertainers and nonprofits from throughout New England.

The event was founded by David Vargas, owner of Vida Cantina in Portsmouth and O’Rell’s Barbecue on Badgers Island in Kittery, Maine, and Evan Mallett, owner of Black Trumpet Bistro in Portsmouth, in 2021. It was attended by more than 750 people that year.

As stated on the New England BIPOC Festival website, the mission is to foster a greater appreciation of the ethnic and cultural diversity that has been woven into the Granite’s State’s fabric.

“As long as Black and Brown people are marginalized, ignored, regarded as second-class citizens, or blocked from the same rights and privileges enjoyed by white folks, our democracy cannot succeed. By bringing our community together under one sky, we hope to initiate and perpetuate conversation about the important threads of equity and social justice that hold us all together. Through celebration and joy, BIPOC Fest unites a wide array of community members to enjoy some of the foods, art and music that highlight the rich and diverse histories that make up this seacoast.”

This fall, festival-goers were entertained by performers such as Zumba by Marienela, DJ Skooch, and the Seacoast West African Dance and Drum Group. Rose’s Spring Rolls, Sassy Biscuit, Habibi and Southern Girl Bakery were among the participating restaurants.

The James Beard Foundation, Occupy New Hampshire, the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook-Abenaki People, Black Lives Matter Seacoast, and Indigenous New Hampshire were also represented.

This year’s festival was expected to raise as much as $25,000, a portion of which was directed to various businesses and community groups.

New England BIPOC Fest leaders have helped to raise $25,000 for the event this year, a large sum of which will be directed back into the festival’s participating vendors, acts and organizations.

Moving forward, the festival’s organizers plan to form a 501(c)(3) organization. They also hope to relocate the festival to the Bridge Street parking lot closer to downtown Portsmouth in 2023. 603