BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN TZID:America/New_York X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VEVENT UID:1423@coolcleveland.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York;VALUE=DATE:20250913 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York;VALUE=DATE:20250914 DTSTAMP:20260402T061255Z URL:https://coolcleveland.com/events/fresh-fest-at-rid-all-farm-focuses-on -food-art-music-and-wellness/ SUMMARY:Fresh Fest at Rid-All Farm Focuses on Food\, Art\, Music and Wellne ss DESCRIPTION:\n\n[caption id="attachment_169105" align="alignnone" width="70 0"] Photo by Anastasia Pantsios[/caption]\nSat 9/13 @ 1-9PM\n\n\nOn Octobe r 27\, 2010\, civic and government leaders gathered on a large stretch of vacant land off Kinsman\, in a neighborhood known colloquially as “The F orgotten Triangle\,” and heard about a plan by a small group of neighbor hood entrepreneurs to turn it into a productive farm called Rid-All Green partnership. Less than a year later\, in July\, people gathered at the sam e patch of ground to look at the first greenhouses and aquaponics tanks co nstructed there. By 2013\, it was inviting neighbors and other interested people to come down for food and line dancing.  What three childhood frie nds—Keymah Durden\, Randy McShepard and the late Damien Forshe—started has grown into a 26.5 acre\, sprawling neighborhood jewel with a multiple greenhouses\, a community kitchen\, a park and rain basin\, a basketball court\, playground\, a composting facility and more.\n\n\n\n In 2019 it l aunched Fresh Fest\, a fall festival that showcased not only its activitie s\, but community vendors\, artists\, environmental and wellness initiativ es\, meditation and yoga workshops\, and kids’ activities. It skipped 20 20 (didn’t we all?) but it has been back every September since\, with an afternoon of top local music artists headlined by a legacy hip hop act\, with activities for all ages focusing heavily on personal and environmenta l health. The event is co-sponsored by Environmental Health Watch and Brit tany’s Record Shop.\n\n\n\n Of course\, Fresh Fest is back this year\, and its headliner is MC Lyte\, one of the first female rappers to enjoy wi despread success in the late 80s. But local acts such as DJ Black Unicorn\ , Sadhu\, Armand Rashad\, Nuke Franklin\, OG Vern\, Esther Fitz\, Lillian Ruffin\, and Robin “Hyperius” Black offer an afternoon of some of the strongest talent in this area.\n\n\n\nAs usual\, Rid-All’s bustling grou nds will be packed with vendors\, art installations\, demonstrations\, fre sh food\, a bar area for adults\, enhanced playground activities for kids\ , and information from nonprofits and city departments. Oddly\, their pres s release says\, “New this year\, Fresh Fest Cleveland will also feature line dancing\, yoga\, and more\, offering even more ways for attendees to move\, connect\, and recharge throughout the day.” That is not new. Whe rever three or more Black women gather and there’s music\, line dancing happens. It’s always happened at this event.\n\n\n\nThe festival is free and open to people of all ages\, races and what have you. It’s also acc essible to all areas\, right off the Opportunity Corridor (although far pr e-dating it). Get off at Kinsman and head south\, and you’ll hit its par king lot with a free shuttle to the festival site.\n\n\n\nYou can register here to help them plan but it’s not required. Get more information here .\n\n\n\n FreshFestCleveland\n[mappress mapid="3803"]\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://coolcleveland.com/wp-content/uploads/202 5/09/FreshFest.jpg CATEGORIES:----WRITERS----,Workshop,Healthy,Contest,Sport,Nature/Environme nt,Garden,Science,RSS,Free,Preview,Anastasia Pantsios,Music: Popular,Outdoors,Drinks,Visual Arts,Dance,Performance,Festival,Eats,Civic Affairs,Entrepreneurialism,Education,Culture,Spirituality,Kids,Teen,colleg e END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20250309T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR