Hot Corner: The Athens festival celebrating Black culture and businesses returns this week
When it comes to the annual Hot Corner Celebration & Soul Food Feast in downtown Athens, organizer Homer Wilson likes to take the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach.
The 23rd commemoration of the historically Black business district located at Hull and Washington streets will be much like the ones that preceded it, said Wilson, who has been a Hot Corner mainstay at Wilson’s Styling Shop since the 1960s.
“It’s the same setup, maybe some different vendors and different people up on the stage,” said Wilson, a co-founder of the Hot Corner Association.
The festival begins in earnest on Thursday evening, beginning at Ciné with a documentary on Hot Corner and a discussion afterwards. Later on Thursday, a scholarship fundraiser at the nearby World Famous will feature a concert by guitarist Robert Lee Coleman, a pioneer in both funk and soul who spent years backing James Brown and Percy Sledge.
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At 7 p.m. Friday, the festival’s traditional gospel music program will be held at First AME Church on Hull Street, with a bit of a twist this year.
“We’ve been doing the gospel program all along, although this year we’ll be using different church choirs,” said Wilson. “We generally have quartets and soloists, but this year we’ll have choirs from the area. That’s a slight change.”
Wilson added that the gospel program will memorialize past supporters who have died, and will award four $500 scholarships to deserving young people.
And Saturday will be, as Wilson said, “the big day,” starting at 11 a.m. and lasting until 10 p.m. In addition to some 75 vendors, there will be a kid’s corner, stage performances (featuring more than two dozen different artists), a car and bike show, a barbecue cook-off, a chess and checkers competition and opportunities for voter registration. Barbara “Lady B” Sims, Pastor Clarence Smith and Montu Miller will serve as emcees for the festival.
“It’s something where the whole family can come out and have a great time,” he said.
Wilson said that his father and his partners established the barber shop in 1957 and his father assumed ownership in 1964. Wilson began working at the barber shop in the ninth grade and has been there ever since.
“I just started helping out at first – I never thought I’d go full-time and still be here, but I’ve enjoyed it all,” he said.
And while Wilson remains quite busy at the shop and Saturday is generally a active day, he said he will once again take a rare day off to enjoy the festivities.
“I always take off on that day and I’m right here, going from place to place, visiting and gathering up information, especially if somebody has some new information,” he said. “Sometimes people find old pictures or clippings that they had and they bring them around. It’s an interesting day, especially when some of our elderly (residents) come out.”
When asked his favorite part of the weekend, Wilson said, “All of it. I really love it all. It’s the one time a year you get a chance to put this on for the community and see the community get together back down here together again. It’s a great time and a great experience.”
The Hot Corner fest draws to a close with an afterparty – set for 9 p.m. at the World Famous – featuring DJ George.
Wilson said organizers have never conducted a census of patrons but added photographs he’s examined indicate attendance in the thousands. As is always the case with an outdoor event, fingers are crossed to ward away rain – there’s only been one festival affected by wet weather, he said.
“We haven’t been rained out but one time,” said Wilson. “And we lost one year to COVID.”
The Hot Corner Association meets regularly to plan the festival, and Wilson said the organization will be working doubly hard in the coming years to celebrate the festival’s silver anniversary in 2025.
“We meet once a month,” he said. “When it’s over we’ll go over things and see what we can do better and then we start planning with the different vendors and sponsors. We’re going to be working harder this year because we want to do a great big event for our 25th anniversary. We’re going to go for something spectacular.”
For more information about the 23rd annual Hot Corner Celebration & Soul Food Feast, visit www.hotcornerathens.weebly.com.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Hot Corner festival featuring Black businesses returns to Athens
