Special to The Post

Got kids?

So, you know they like to do the same thing over and over.

They want you to read them the same story, watch the same movie, eat the same food. They don’t get tired, but you are a little weary of the routine that you know is actually good for them.

But on Saturday, Sept. 30, you don’t have to go to Fairyland again.

The 8^th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival, held on the front lawn of Oakland Technical High School, is offering a change to your routine with main stage acts and activities for children. And it’s free.

The festival begins at 11 a.m. with a welcome by the event’s regular M.C., Carla Service of Oakland’s Dance-A-Vision. After a brief drum invocation by Awon Ohun Omnira, renowned Bay Area vocalist Rhonda Benin begins the first of two 25-minute sets called “What Is a Band?” from noon to 1 p.m.

The set is an interactive musical program designed for children to introduce them to a live band. Through the “call and response style,” children become a part of the band while learning about the piano, the bass, the drum, and the voice. And musical terms like melody, a capella, call and response, syncopation, rhythm, polyrhythms, unison, and improvisation.

Trending

Celebrate 150 years of Prescott School! May 4, 2019, 11 am to 4 pm

Informative and fun, Benin, who is also a music teacher, will invite a few children to join her on stage to take a turn at playing a percussive instrument.

After Benin’s set, the festival welcomes the Prescott Circus, an Oakland youth group that will — literally — bring in the clowns.

But not just clowns. They’ll bring tradition in the form of stilt-walking, a form of entertainment in several African and Caribbean countries incorporated in carnivals and pageants. There’ll be jugglers and kids performing balancing acts as well as hip-hop dancing. They’re on stage from 1:20 p.m. to 2 p.m.

Asé Arts, run by Nichole Talbott, is a community art studio in the Mosswood Park neighborhood. She will provide all-day arts and crafts activities for children. She has separate tables for very young children and sets tasks within their age range and ability. Of course, children will be using black-eyed peas to decorate their artwork, small picture frames and more.

A few feet away, Benjamin ‘Benja’ Mertz, will supervise a touch-and-play booth where children will get a chance to experiment with instruments, mostly percussive. It serves as a follow-up to Benin’s set on bands. Mertz will be at the festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. A storyteller as well as a musician, he might be persuaded to regale kids with a tale or two.

Adults, of course, are not left out. On the main stage that day, the festival will have the John Santos Quartet, selections by Dimensions Dance Theatre, second-line style music from New Orleans native Michael Jones of MJ’s Brass Boppers and Alvon Johnson will close out the day with a lively blues set.

Nobody will be hungry with soul food classics and creole dishes for sale by Carolyn’s Creole Kitchen, Arnette Cheri catering and Krazy Kettle desserts.

The 8^th Annual Oakland Black-Eyed Pea Festival, a celebration of African American traditional music, food and art will be held:

When: Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023

Time: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Where: Oakland Technical High School, 4351 Broadway, Oakland, 94611

Cost: Free

For more information, please call 510-332-5851 or email at oakbepf@gmail.com.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post