BOISE, Idaho — “Come early come at 11 stay for lunch stay for dinner and then stay throughout the evening,” Trish Walker says.
The annual Boise Soul Food Festival is back and on Saturday, August 12, nearly 50 vendorswill fill Julia Davis Park, sharing food, culture, and new experiences.
"We just wanted to share the best and present the best of what we have to offer in this community and that is black business, black music, black food black arts and crafts, and retail,” says Trish Walker, CEO of the Idaho Black Community Alliance.
The Idaho Black Community Alliance is one of the main sponsors of the event. The festival starts at 11 am and will last until 8 pm, but with its popularity - especially with it being free, you should probably get there early.
Shari Baber, founder and CEO of Boise Soul Food, says, “Tomorrow we're going to consume the entire park from the bandshell to the zoo from the rose garden to the river and what you can expect to find is all kinds of delicious food vendors.”
This year there are some new additions like a kid village where you can find kid-friendly food like mac and cheese melts and coned pizza, there will also be a new stem village.
Along with new additions, there will be 47 vendors at this year's event compared to last year's 12.
"What we did was listen to our survey and our survey said our lines were extra long so we tripled the food vendors this year we spread them out, so the lines don't consume each other,” says Baber.
Organizers want to stress the importance of this festival and all that it brings by celebrating different cultures together.
“It's been great to see everyone in the community come back and everyone in the community wants to take part in it. All small businesses will be here so we have a great amount of black businesses but we also have other cultures that just want to engage with us so it's a good feeling," says Trish Walker.
Along with food, there will also be live entertainment and activities throughout the day.
