The small city of Urbana, about 45 miles northeast of Dayton, is hosting its annual Black Heritage Festival this weekend.
It’s an opportunity for the town of 11,000 people to come together and celebrate the contributions of its Black community through live music, food and community storytelling.
Although its Black population sits at just about 500 today, festival founder Kalen Howell said the west-central Ohio city has plenty of history worth celebrating.
“It kind of came out of a need to really preserve our family stories for like the coming generations and to give Urbana a place and a space to heal together,” Howell said.
Lasting legacies
The town has a rich history of Black contributions dating back to the late 19th century, according to Howell. Market Street, where the festival is held today, was once home to many Black-owned businesses.
“That was kind of unheard of in a small town like Urbana, Ohio, to have a city that allowed to have that Black heritage forming,” Howell said. “And so there's a lot of firsts.”
The festival will honor the accomplishments of historical changemakers, like Robert Morton Duncan, the first African American to serve on the Ohio Supreme Court; Walter Murphy, world-class horse trainer who became the first Black person to be inducted into the National Saddlebred Hall of Fame; and Arnold B. Brown, a local stand-up comedian who headlined shows through the 1920s and ‘30s.
How it began
Howell began the celebration after digging into his own family history. As he researched the legacy of his father and grandmother in Urbana, he found that many other local families had stories worth preserving.
The event attracted more than 1,200 people from across the state in its inaugural year.
“It's really special to have the festival bring these folks that have moved out to different cities and different states to come back home. We had people come from California and just various states around Ohio to come back home and just to celebrate.”
At the first festival in 2022, Howell said the community worked with the local police department to dedicate a historical marker of David 'Bus' Hill, the first Black police officer in the community to retire with pension.
“It was great to have the city and the police department come out and really unveil that in front of the entire community. That was special.”
A family reunion
This year, Howell is inviting attendees not just to celebrate, but to work to preserve their own family heritage. The local church will be a temporary exhibit to Urbana residents’ histories, in hopes of uncovering more stories.
“We'll have some presentations and talks in that space you know so just a place to share those lesser known stories with each other amongst the family,” he said.
It’s not all about preserving the past, though, Howell said. He hopes the event can actively bring the community together in the present. In past years, relatives who had never met discovered their shared lineage on a walking tour at the festival.
“I'll never forget seeing them all throughout the rest of that festival. I saw them laughing and hugging and telling everybody that this is their family,” he said. “It was such a joyous moment.”
He hopes each attendee can leave the festival with a similar connection and joy.
