Pride and Joy Headlines Richmond’s Spirit & Soul Festival September 21

By The Oakland Post

Downtown Richmond is set to come alive with soulful sounds of some the Bay Area most coveted R&B, Soul and Funk bands at the 11th annual Spirit & Soul Festival on Sat. Sept. 21, 2019.

Richmond Main Street Ini­tiative (RMSI) presents the Bay Area’s premier party band Pride and Joy and classic by Top Shelf. Other show stop­pers include Buttah Buttahfly with her renditions of music by the late Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin and appearing on the Spirit & Soul stage for the first time is songstress Kyla Dawn.

RMSI will also honor sev­eral champions of including Adonna O’Sullivan (Kaiser Permanente), Lucinda Ba­zille (Lifelong Medical Cen­ter), Charlene Smith (East Center for Performing Arts), Bessanderson McNeil (Snazz) and Aparicio Family (Your Way Pizza). Past honorees in­clude Betty Reid Soskin (Na­tional Park Service) and Janet Johnson (City of Richmond).

RMSI invites everyone to Downtown to enjoy music, food, and fun for the entire family.

Both events will feature a beverage booth serving up re­freshing Main Street Margari­tas and hometown brews by East Brother Beer Company, with proceeds of sales benefitting RMSI programs.

Concert-goers of all ages are sure to enjoy a diverse array of artisan and food vendors offer­ing unique items and delicious eats, informational booths, in­teractive activities, youth zone, free book fair, giveaways, prizes and Freshest Cargo Mo­bile Farmers’ Market.

Admission is free and all ages are welcome. The Spirit & Soul festival is convenient­ly located near the Richmond Transit Station on Macdonald Avenue, home to BART, Am­trak, AC Transit, and R-Tran­sit. Special paid VIP seating is available. Check the Richmond Mains Street Spirit & Soul website http://www.richmondmain­street.org for details.

Richmond Main Street Ini­tiative is a community based non-profit dedicated to revital­izing historic downtown Rich­mond. RMSI partners with the City of Richmond, merchants, and residents to develop and improve downtown Richmond as a pedestrian-friendly urban village that offers products, services, arts and entertain­ment that reflect the communi­ty’s rich and diverse heritage. The DRPBID district encom­passes the core of the Historic Downtown area along the Macdonald Avenue corridor bounded approximately by 6th Street, Barrett Avenue, Bissell Avenue, and 16th Street. For more information and to read about the RMSI’s events and programs, please visit http://www.richmondmainstreet.org and http://www.facebook.com/rich­mondmainstreet.

Spirit & Soul is sponsored by San Francisco Bay Ferry, Mechanics Bank, Coopera­tive Center, Credit Union, Kaiser, Sims Metal Manage­ment, AC Transit, LifeLong Medical Center, East Brother Beer Company, SparkPoint, Republic Services, and City of Richmond. Additional support comes from volunteers and the Downtown Richmond Proper­ty and Business Improvement District (DRPBID).

This article originally appeared in Oakland Post.