Black Vendor Village draws big crowds in Bowmanville, Ontario [Video]

Courtice resident Hamlin Grange receiving the Mayor’s Challenge Coin from Clarington Mayor Adrian Foster and Councillor Granville Anderson

More than 700 people came out to Clarington’s second annual Black Vendor Village at Bowmanville’s Garnet Rickard Recreation Complex on Saturday, part of the municipality’s kickoff of Black History Month.

Black Vendor Village, a partnership between Clarington, the Region of Durham and Clarington Library, Museums and Archives, is a celebration of resilience, creativity and unity, as well as a popular marketplace. Guests enjoyed live entertainment, dancing, art, food and shopping at 50 vendors and services.

A community quilt was unveiled in honour of the International Decade for People of African Descent. The quilt project was dreamed up Jamaican-Canadian poet, author, and arts educator Nadine Williams in collaboration with the Municipality of Clarington and the museum.

Poet Tracy J, along with Mayor Adrian Foster, Councillor Granville Anderson and Hawa Mire of Clarington’s Anti-Black …