Thousands of people come from near and far to attend the famous Howard Homecoming. The anticipation and excitement for the yardfest and all the other events were present, however, this year things were definitely different. “Crown” the theme of the 2014 of HUHC, included many of the traditional events like the Parade, the Fashion Show and the R&B Show… However, the Yardfest was a new pace. Unlike the past several years, the Yardfest wasn’t a live concert. It consisted of celebrity DJs Biz Markie, Drama and Quiksilva spinning hits, vendors selling clothing and food and inflatable fun activities. To replace the popular free concert, a Hip Hop Concert was put on featuring headliners, Fabolous (below) and Dom Kennedy.
SOURCE:AWPRODUCTIONS
There were mixed emotions from attendees about the change. Former students stopped and gave their opinions:
“It’s a brilliant business move for Howard and a detriment to alumni because a lot will skip Friday or the event all together. The tailgate was still litt and the parties were fun but Yardfest is missed.”
-Brendan Francis | B.S Risk Management | C/O 2012
“It’s one of the driving reasons why I had no desire to come this year! Music festivals are music festivals, Yardfest is Yardfest. They’ve officially changed homecoming.”
-Coreen WIlliams | B.A Political Science| C/O 2013
Aside from the unwanted event changes, the fashion still flourished on the runway and the alumni, students and family poured onto campus to see old face and visit special places.
SOURCE:AWPRODUCTIONS
What was the most shocking this year was how a group of Alumni decided that not having “yardfest” wasn’t an option! They produced a music festival featuring some of today hottest acts entitled, Meccafest.
SOURCE:AWPRODUCTIONS
Defined as,
“an art, culture, and music festival that diversely unites people from all areas within the DMV community for one common goal – to showcase talent. Centered around numerous homecoming events, The MeccaFest festival is designed to encourage and showcase existing and up and coming art, fashion, creativity, education, music, and technological advances in a social environment.”
Artist like Wale (above), Teyana Taylor, Jeremih and more showed out in DC. Unfortunately, due to time constraints all acts were not able to perform. The Meccafest was a wonderful testament to what Howard gave many of its students… Hustle. It truly is a beautiful thing to see these alumni keep alive the traditions in which many have become accustom.
