Durag Fest began as a one-day local event six years ago. Today, it has evolved into one of Charlotte’s most recognizable Black cultural festivals, drawing thousands of attendees from all around the country. The festival has also expanded to include an additional day.
Lisa Michelle — and Charlotte artist known as Dammit Wesley — first organized the event in 2018. It was intended to illustrate Black creativity, Michelle told QCity Metro.
The pair connected after Wesley saw Michelle’s work in a Thanksgiving parade unit. Wesley had an idea for an art exhibit, which he believed Michelle would be a great fit for, but the meeting, instead, birthed the festival.
The festival’s concept is to showcase the functionality and popularity of durags, which many people, including Michelle, wear. The experience incorporates art, music, fashion and more.
To Michelle, DuRag Fest is about more than preserving and celebrating Black culture, she said; it’s a way to pour into Charlotte’s Black community specifically.Â
Now, the festival offers a multi-day experience and has extended its outreach through its philanthropic arm, DuGood Foundation, which looks to give back to the community.
In an interview with QCity Metro, co-founder Michelle discussed the festival’s origins, growth and future.Â
What was that first festival like six years ago?Â
DuRag Fest has always been at Camp North End. Our very first event was free, and we had about 1,000 people come out. Since it was our first event, we did not know what to expect, but I think the arts community understood what we were trying to do. We had a few food trucks, an art gallery inside of BlkMrket, and a few local artists who performed. We also had the fashion show, and that is what a lot of people gravitated towards, which is what really drove a lot of our success and people wanting to know more about Durag Fest.
How has DuRag Fest been able to maintain its success over the years?Â
Even though we are six years in, we are still learning. But we actually just secured a sponsorship with Firstline WavEnforcer, which we are really excited about, that creates hair care products and durags. When we first started, we’d go to corporate brands and they did not really understand our vision or the value of investing.Â
You mentioned difficulty securing sponsors early on. What are some other challenges you all have faced?Â
Well, I think personally for me, I am not only the co-founder, but I wear the hat of CEO, so everything comes through me as of right now. Another challenge is maintaining the authenticity of our brand without compromising on our value in order to secure sponsors.Â
Some companies believe that our brand is ‘too urban.’ We also don’t have a full-time staff yet. I think being a Black-owned business can pose some challenges in that we don’t always have some of the resources that other festivals started with. But we’ve been able to overcome it, and I think that just adds to the story we want to tell: not only do we make it work, but we overcome and create things out of nothing.Â
Some challenges can lead to success. Can you name a few of your successes so far?Â
2023’s DuRag Fest, we had 5,200 people come out, which was the largest attendance we have had since our debut. Last year, we had four different countries outside of the United States represented at DuRag Fest. One was the Netherlands, Jamaica, and Mexico. But I was just amazed, considering our team is still fairly small, and we mostly use social media to get the word out.Â
We’ve also introduced some [artist] challenges, such as the upcycle challenge, where people create durags out of various materials. Just being able to see people see themselves in Durag Fest and have a chance to express that is a success in and of itself.Â
Is Durag Fest a nonprofit? How does the festival support the community?
We are not a nonprofit, but we created a nonprofit arm last year called the DuGhood Foundation because we want to extend ourselves beyond the festival. The nonprofit allows us to be active year-round. We still have some things in the works, but we are planning to host a back-to-school event centered around confidence and kids feeling good about themselves. We’ll give kids haircuts and style young girls’ hair and similar things. This is important to us because even though kids can have a pencil and a notebook if they don’t feel good about themselves, they are not going to do well.Â
What’s next for DuRag Fest?Â
We want to continue to grow. This year, we added an extra day to the festival called Expo Day, where we’ll have a few panels, workshops and speakers. We also want to continue making DuRag Fest a multi-day event and, not just where we are incorporating the fashion, food, and music but also giving people a chance to speak about things that are important to Black culture. We really just want to be conducive to connecting the community and being actionable in amplifying and celebrating our culture.
