Charlotte couple creates a Black food and wine festival inspired by the Harlem Renaissance

Husband-and-wife team Chef Greg and Subrina Collier have announced plans for the inaugural Black Food & Wine Festival happening October 22nd to 24th at Camp North End in North Carolina. The celebration was inspired by the Harlem Renaissance where the Black Food & Wine Festival seeks to educate and entertain.

The couple wanted to capture the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s and 1930s to share a look inside Black life, identity and culture through the arts.

“Back then, there was a burst of creativity and cultural appreciation born out of Prohibition,” Greg said. “Now, one hundred or so years later, Black creativity has been unappreciated and unnoticed for a while. We want to shine that spotlight bright.”

The three-day festival will be a celebration of Black food and culture, with more than 75 chefs, artisans, farmers, brewers, and distillers already signed on to participate.

The Colliers, who own Uptown Yolk and the critically acclaimed “modern juke joint” Leah & Louise, leaned into their network for the lineup of notable chefs from across the country. 

“Participating in other festivals, I saw how Black chefs and culinarians weren’t represented — not to the amount we should’ve been,” says Subrina, a 2020 James Beard Foundation Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Fellow. “I’m hoping to get people excited to keep supporting not only small businesses but Black businesses and Black chefs.”

Among the first to sign on to participate were Atlanta chef Todd Richards, James Beard-finalist chef Duane Nutter, Top Chef alums: Tiffany Derry, Chris Scott, and Keith Rhodes. Charlotte-area locals like Lindsay Williams of Davidson Wine Co., Greg Williams and Jamie Barnes of What The Fries, Whitney Thomas of The Grand Bohemian, and Michael Bowling of Hot Box Next Level Kitchen will also be part of the festivities. 

The Colliers helped found Soul Food Sessions, a pop-up dinner series highlighting Black culinaries. In 2020, they opened Leah & Louise, a modern juke joint named one of the country’s best new restaurants by Esquire.

To kick off the festival on October 22nd, there will be a Chuckwagon Carnival with food trucks, amusement rides and family-friendly entertainment.  Towards the end of the night there will be a Black Stork Chefs Dinner, a ticketed multicourse meal. The Stork Club was a famous New York City supper club that refused to serve Josephine Baker and learned the high cost of racism.

On October 23rd, the Cotton Club Festival anchors a day of events that include vendors, demonstrations and tastings before ending with The Harlem Nights Chefs Dinner, a reference to the 1989 film classic starring Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor. The Cotton Club, which first opened as Club Deluxe by heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson before mobster Owen “Owney” Madden took it over, limited the audience to White patrons and revamped it into the popular cabaret that attracted an A-list of Black performers.

The Savoy Jazz Brunch will wrap up the celebration on October 24th with multiple chef stations and live music. The Savoy Ballroom was one of the first racially integrated venues in the country.

Tickets are expected to launch in June. For more information, including details about sponsorship, participation, and volunteering visit BlackFoodandWineFestival.com.

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Kiara Desirai

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