Kentucky Avenue Renaissance Festival

File:Club Harlem 1964.jpg, 1964]]

Kentucky Avenue was the hub of the black entertainment district in Atlantic City from the 1940s through 1960s. The district (known as "Kentucky Avenue and the Curb") had been home to African-Americans in the racially-segregated city since the end of World War I.{{sfn|Willis|2016|pp=97–98}} Kentucky Avenue, between Arctic and Atlantic Avenues, was home to many black-owned businesses, among them nightclubs that attracted both black and white clientele.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1917&dat=19870501&id=dwwhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eHIFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3254,397807|title=Club Harlem: Can It Survive Among Giants?|first=Michele|last=Digirolamo|date=1 May 1987|newspaper=The Schenectady Gazette|page=32}} The premier nightclub was Club Harlem, where the leading black entertainers of their time appeared. Other popular nightclubs were Grace's Little Belmont, the Wonder Gardens, and the Paradise Club.{{sfn|Willis|2016|pp=97–98}} The street also had numerous barbecue chicken and ribs joints, such as Jerry's Ribs, Sapp's, and Booker the Bone Cooker, and a small soul food restaurant, Wash's Restaurant, popular with the black entertainers and patrons of the clubs.{{cite web|url=http://www.atlanticcityexperience.org/collections-exhibit/the-magic-of-kentucky-avenue/34-washs-kentucky-avenue|title=Wash's Restaurant|publisher=Atlantic City Free Public Library|access-date=28 August 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914085325/http://www.atlanticcityexperience.org/collections-exhibit/the-magic-of-kentucky-avenue/34-washs-kentucky-avenue|archive-date=14 September 2016}} On summer weekends, the music and entertainment went on around the clock.

The district went into decline after an April 2, 1972 Easter morning shootout at Club Harlem.{{sfn|Waltzer|Wilk|2001|p=19}}{{cite web |url=http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/press/atlantic_city/kentucky-avenue-renaissance-festival-is-back-sunday/article_f9a760f8-5a7c-11e6-bd7e-f71d84c6b37f.html|title=Kentucky Avenue Renaissance Festival is back Sunday|first=Donna|last=Weaver|date=5 August 2016|access-date=11 August 2016|work=Press of Atlantic City}} Four members of the Black Mafia entered the club during a show attended by an estimated 600 people and shot a rival operative point-blank at his table, ostensibly in retaliation for a drug deal.{{sfn|Griffin|2006|pp=32–33}} The dealer's bodyguard and three other women were killed in the melee that ensued.{{sfn|Griffin|2006|pp=32–33}} The introduction of hotel casinos to Atlantic City further eroded the popularity of the district. Club Harlem was the last nightclub operating by the 1980s; it was shuttered in 1986{{cite web |url=http://articles.philly.com/1987-07-28/news/26197346_1_cecil-randall-club-harlem-casinos|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150914160619/http://articles.philly.com/1987-07-28/news/26197346_1_cecil-randall-club-harlem-casinos|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 14, 2015|title=From Glitter To Gloom: A Painful Silence Has Descended Over Atlantic City's Club Harlem, Where The Biggest Names In Show Biz Once Jammed Through The Night|first=Don|last=Russell|date=28 July 1987|access-date=14 August 2016|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer}} and demolished in 1992.{{cite web|url=http://www.monopolycity.com/ac_earlyclubs.html|title=Early Atlantic City Nightclubs |publisher=Monopolycity.com|access-date=29 July 2016}}

The first Kentucky Avenue Renaissance Festival was held a few months after Club Harlem's demolition, in June 1992.{{cite web |url=http://articles.philly.com/1992-06-27/news/26030692_1_club-harlem-hammond-organ-commodores|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101003748/http://articles.philly.com/1992-06-27/news/26030692_1_club-harlem-hammond-organ-commodores|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 1, 2016|title=A Rebirth-day Party: Kentucky Avenue Once Was The Place To Be – Its Joint Serving Up Atlantic City's Best Ribs And Rhythm And Blues. It Will Be All That Again This Weekend|first=William H.|last=Sokolic|date=27 June 1992|access-date=12 August 2016|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer}}{{cite web |url=http://www.acbiz.org/News%20and%20Events/pdf/8-10-15/Kentucky-Avenue-Festival-pushes-forward.pdf

|title=Kentucky Avenue Festival pushes forward despite delays|first=Donna |last=Weaver|date=7 August 2015|access-date=11 August 2016|work=Press of Atlantic City}} The festival was held on and around the site of the club, now a parking lot.{{sfn|Waltzer|Wilk|2001|p=19}}{{cite web |url=http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/communities/atlantic-city_pleasantville_brigantine/atlantic-city-longs-for-harlem-nights/article_878436f6-4104-11e4-b032-b35e350c434d.html|title=Atlantic City longs for Harlem nights|first=Donna|last=Weaver|date=20 September 2014|access-date=1 August 2016|publisher=Press of Atlantic City}} In addition to saluting the entertainment of yesteryear, organizers hoped the festival would spark interest in redeveloping the former entertainment district on Kentucky Avenue. The festival was staged every summer after that until 2001.

In 2011 the Polaris Development Group, headed by Steven Young, in cooperation with the Atlantic City Public Library, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, and local business owners, reintroduced the festival as a way to cultivate interest in reviving the former entertainment district.{{cite web |url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-2423843111.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911194024/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-2423843111.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 September 2016|title=Kentucky Avenue Renaissance Festival returns Saturday in Atlantic City|date=12 August 2011|access-date=11 August 2016|publisher=Press of Atlantic City}} The festival has been held annually since, aside from another break in 2014. In 2015 bad weather led to the rescheduling of the festival in November at The Claridge Hotel.{{cite web |url=http://jerseyshorerealestatenews.com/2015/11/atlantic-city-2015-kentucky-ave-renaissance-festival/|title=Atlantic City 2015 Kentucky Ave Renaissance Festival|first=Sherri|last=Lilienfield|publisher=NJ-Shore Real Estate|date=6 November 2015|access-date=14 August 2016}}

The first festival, in 1992, featured free concerts, arts and crafts, and concessions selling barbecued ribs and other foods. Chris Columbo, who conducted the Club Harlem orchestra for 34 years, performed, as did a dance troupe recreating the "Smart Affairs" revue headquartered at Club Harlem.

Reintroduced in 2011 after a ten-year hiatus, the renamed Historical Kentucky Avenue Renaissance Festival drew an estimated 1,000 attendees over the course of the day.{{cite web |url= https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-2734448611.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160911194426/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-2734448611.html|url-status= dead|archive-date= 11 September 2016|title= Atlantic City Festival Organizers Promote Kentucky Avenue Redevelopment|first=Emily|last=Previti|date=10 August 2012|access-date=14 August 2016|publisher=Press of Atlantic City}} Together with live R&B and jazz music, dance groups, and street performers, the festival features historical exhibits.{{cite web |url=http://www.atlanticcitynj.com/events/details.aspx?id=5177|title=5th Annual Historical Kentucky Avenue Renaissance Festival|year=2016|access-date=14 August 2016|publisher= Casino Reinvestment Development Authority}}{{cite web |url= https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-3041596111.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160911201822/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-3041596111.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 11 September 2016 |title= Kentucky Avenue Festival Remembers Days Long Past|first=Derek|last=Harper|date=10 August 2013|access-date=14 August 2016|publisher=Press of Atlantic City}} Attendees come from Atlantic City as well as nearby Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In July 1996 the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority commissioned a mural honoring the former Kentucky Avenue entertainment district. Painted on a brick wall near the corner of Kentucky and Baltic Avenues, the {{convert|10|x|64|ft|adj=on}} mural depicts leading musicians who once performed in the area's nightclubs, such as singers Sammy Davis Jr., Billy Eckstine, and Ella Fitzgerald, and drummer Chris Columbo.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/04/nyregion/a-jazz-age-survivor.html|title=A Jazz-Age Survivor|first=Bill|last=Kent|date=4 August 1996|access-date=11 August 2016|work=The New York Times}} The mural was painted by students of Atlantic City High School, who received $6 per hour from the Casino Authority and were entertained by jazz musicians while they painted.{{cite web |url= http://articles.philly.com/1996-07-12/news/25621239_1_jazz-huge-panels-art-students|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150919132911/http://articles.philly.com/1996-07-12/news/25621239_1_jazz-huge-panels-art-students|url-status= dead|archive-date= September 19, 2015|title= Jazz Greats Return – In Art – To A.c. Strip A Mural Says This Spot Once Hopped|first=Jacqueline L. |last=Urgo|date=12 July 1996|access-date=14 August 2016|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer}}

• Chicken Bone Beach Jazz
• Chris Columbo, jazz drummer
• Springwood Avenue, African-American historical music district in Asbury Park, New Jersey

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• {{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FoGKfZqdLlMC&pg=PA19 |title=Tales of South Jersey: Profiles and Personalities|first1=Jim|last1=Waltzer|first2=Tom|last2=Wilk|year=2001|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=0813530075}}
• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2kvfCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98|title=Tappin' at the Apollo: The African American Female Tap Dance Duo Salt and Pepper|first=Cheryl M.|last=Willis|year=2016|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1476623153}}

Category:1992 establishments in New Jersey

Category:Events in Atlantic City, New Jersey

Category:Street fairs

Category:African-American festivals

Category:Defunct festivals in New Jersey