Through business, music, artist, fitness and more, this festival is gearing up for its second year of festivities later this month at the Evergy Plaza in downtown Topeka.
Mackenzi Mondesir, fundraising director of For The Culture KS, said although the goal is to celebrate history and Black culture, this year's celebration will also add programs for local business owners.
"With these vendors, there is this gap in understanding the financial well-being of their business," Mondesir said. "So, we're helping the launch a couple of programs towards the end of the year, where we could create workshops that not just help the vendors, but small businesses in general.
"They can come and learn really, what does it really look like for them as a business? We want everyone to start thinking about them as a business, not just as a little shop or as a vendor. So having that education piece is crucial for us."
Carol Williams, board member of FTCKS and vendor coordinator, said Saturday, July 27, will most likely be the busiest with local vendors, a health panel, yoga instructors and more.
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What will be included at For The Culture KS 2024?
- Thursday, July 25: The festival will start with its Black Tie Gala from 6 to 11 p.m. at Townsite Plaza. Tickets are $125 each or $1,000 for a table of 10. Tickets can be purchased at forthecultureks.org.
- Friday, July 26: Several musical artists — including JQuory Guest, Sovi Haze, King Kihei and more — will take the stage at the Evergy Plaza for performances.
- Saturday, July 27: From 8 to 10:30 a.m. at the Evergy Plaza, "Fitness on the Plaza" will take place with four different fitness style sessions hosted by different instructors. Instructors will include Misha Reed, Jaynae Cole, Erica Scroggins and Tonille Starr. Fitness classes will last for 30 minutes each. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. will be an African American Historical Sites Bus Tour. The tour will stop at 12 different points of interest in Topeka for attendees to experience. (Tickets for the bus tour are sold out.) Performances for Saturday include poetry from JoAnna Marks, comedy from JaWon Wheat, a musical performance from JaySol and more. Saturday's headliner will be Kim Cruse from Season 22 of "The Voice."
- Sunday, July 28th: FTCKS will end with "Praise on the Plaza," with different church choirs, praise dancers and singers. Sister duo Tobbi and Tommi, of Kansas City, Missouri, will headline the event.
"We want to end it on a of unity and just peace," Williams said. "But we just need everybody in the city to come out and support the event. We've got a lot of things lined up, and I think it'll be a fabulous fest."
What are the exact times of performances?
Exact times of performances at FTCKS haven't been released.
"One thing about posting times is we don't want people just to come to see one singer," Williams said. "We want people to come and see all the talent."
To keep up with performance updates, follow For The Culture KS on Facebook or visit its website at forthecultureks.org.
Keishera Lately is the business reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. She can be reached at klately@cjonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @Lately_KT.
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