CURLFEST 2019 EXPERIENCE

Courtesy The Curly Girl Collective

On Saturday July 27, 2019 an estimated 30,000 people from all over the country traveled to Randall’s Island in New York city to attend the biggest curly hair festival ever created – Curlfest. I found out about Curlfest two years ago and attended when it was at Prospect Park in Brooklyn, NY.

If you’ve never heard of Curlfest it’s an annual festival created by The Curly Girl Collective to celebrate natural hair empowerment. At Curlfest you will find men and women of all ages, races, and hair types celebrating their natural hair and unique style.

What I love about Curlfest is the exciting things to do while at the park. You can visit hair vendors of major brands like DevaCurl, Shea Moisture, Eden Body Works and Cream of Nature etc many of which offering free products to guests. You had the option to purchase merchandise from Black owned companies like Adinkra Expo or have beautiful henna done by Hennadready.

If you wanted to soak in the sun you could grab food at a variety of well known food trucks and head back to your blanket in the grass to enjoy. If you are like me and you came to mingle, take pictures and dance, you could head front and center for live entertainment on stage and music. It’s literally a sea of beautiful black men and women under the sun TOGETHER enjoying what GOD has blessed us with.

Many of those who attended came to show out. People either dressed up for photo ops or came comfy and ready to shop. I wore a golden yellow slip dress with matching colored shoes and gold accessories. Unlike in past years rocking my wash and go I sported Ombre Faux Locs done by Zavia Monet Owner of Earthxair Salon based in Baltimore. I got a lot of compliments and even achieved my goal of getting spotted and asked to interview for the festival.

Curlfest has different levels of admission tickets that range from General Admission, Silver Tickets, Gold Tickets, and Platinum Tickets. This year I purchased the Silver Ticket for $20 dollars. Although I prefer the ticket that comes with a gift bag, I really needed to purchase tickets as quickly as possible. Every year the tickets sell out within a matter of minutes. I did not want to miss out.

Traveling to Curlfest this year was a breeze, many skeptics were complaining it would be very different from the normal commute to Brooklyn in previous years. However, Curlfest provided FREE shuttle buses leaving from Harlem driving into Randall’s Island. They announced that no parking would be available on the Island and suggested public transportation and a walk over the Triboro passenger bridge. Since I live in Queens I decided drive 20 minutes into Harlem and park my car to hop on the shuttle bus. To my surprise they arranged several Academy coach buses to transport all attendees. The process was smooth and comfortable. I am extremely grateful for this convenience.

Once we arrived at Randall’s Island you were met with hundreds of beautiful black women walking to find their way. The lines were extremely long, but security did an excellent job based on the crow to control and keep the lines moving quickly. After a quick bag search and scan you were foot on the green grass taking it all in. Whooooo Saaaaaaaaaa!!

The energy was so uplifting and positive! I enjoyed every second of the day. I even snuck in to VIP to see what they were up too. People were lounging in their designated areas happily people watching and taking pictures with groups of friends. I am sure I missed a lot of happenings like the discussion panels, but either way I will always support Curlfest and attend annually.

My advice to you is to make sure you attend Curlfest 2020! Please follow @curlygirlcollective on Instagram for pictures and event details.