WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A food hall in West Palm Beach will hold an event Thursday night to celebrate Black culture and encourage voter registration ahead of the November election.
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The free event will be held from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Grandview Public Market located in the Warehouse District at 1401 Clare Ave.
It will feature musicians, poets and speakers. Black-owned vendors will also be selling soap, jewelry, photography, hats and other items.
Grandview Public Market General Manager Joe Muniz said his food hall is the perfect place for the event.
"Grandview Public Market is all about community ... bringing people together with great food, great music and great drinks," Muniz said. "We need to stand together with them and grow and mature with society."
In June, the Grandview Public Market was one of two local businesses caught in a controversy.
Artist collective SoulFam said their gig was canceled after they wanted to advertise that the proceeds of the show would be going to Black Lives Matter.
The owner of Grandview Public Market said it was a miscommunication between a third-party talent booker.
"When I heard about it, I said, 'No come on. Everybody has a space here,'" said Christopher Vila, the owner of Grandview Public Market.
The market ended up donating $600 to Black Lives Matter and then sat down with Matt Brown, the founder of Soul Fam.
"The trend is to cancel, but we want to help places grow. We want to grow together," Brown said.
So, Thursday night the first-ever "Black Market" is being held at the food hall.
"We’re bringing in a bunch of black-owned businesses and the significance of the day is that it's been 100 years to the day that the Pan African Flag was adopted by UNIA," Brown said.
The event is sponsored by Rebuild History, a new West Palm Beach-based non-profit aimed at benefiting the Black community through funding for Black-owned businesses and programs.
Guests are asked to wear masks and follow social distancing guidelines.
