Vendors, mostly from Black-owned businesses and Black-led organizations such as the African American Heritage Association of St. Petersburg, lined 9th Avenue South in St. Petersburg on Saturday for the 5th annual Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival.
Publix also handed out hundreds of bags of fresh greens for people to take home, and dozens of others offered up a variety of cooked greens — even vegetarian versions of one of the South's most beloved dishes.
Drummers, arts and craft tables, and performers on stage were just some of the attractions. The event also included a Kid's Corner with activities, like rope climbing into the trees.
For more about the history of the festival, check out the Zest Podcast's recent episode, The Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival is ‘more than just greens’.
Octavio Jones produced this story as part of the America Amplified initiative using community engagement to inform and strengthen local, regional and national journalism. America Amplified is a public media initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
