Despite storm damage and last-minute pivots, Afro Plus Fest didn’t miss a beat in emulating the heart of the diaspora over Labor Day Weekend.
As music, food and fashions took over Prince George’s County, Maryland, Sept. 4-6, an estimated crowd of 120,000 brought a taste of the communities continuously redefining culture. But more than a festival, India Farquharson says she saw a celebration that embodied the truths of the Black experience: boldness, defiance, and above all, unity.
“No matter what part of Africa, the Caribbean, or America that you’re from, we can come together. We’re all celebrating the same thing; we’re all repping our flags,” Farquharson, 25, told The Informer, as she proudly sported Jamaican and Belizean flags. “We have almost 55+ countries being represented right now, right here today. That’s what this whole thing is showing people … that when push comes to shove, we’re gonna be together at the end of the day.”
While star-studded lineups usually draw fans to festivals, Afro Plus Fest ventured into something beyond the music in many cases.
From art installations and a newly added carnival to more than 100 food vendors, apparel shops, and Black-owned businesses, the encore event turned Northwest Stadium into an all-ages exploration of cultural excellence around the globe.
“AfroPlus is a celebration of that. So much that the world continues to move on, continues to lift on…we have been its kings and queens,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore told The Informer backstage Sept. 5. “It’s not about changing anyone’s opinions. It’s about validating our own power…in what God has already given us, and what we’ve already contributed to the world. I mean, we have given so much.”
With multicultural flags and apparel adorning the sold-out event, performers like Lil Baby, Latto, Chief Keef, Adekunle Gold, Olamide, Fridayy, and more demonstrated the legacies of Afrobeats, hip‑hop, soca, dancehall, R&B, and amapiano across two stages.
Headliners Davido, Ayra Starr, Tems and returning performer WizKid capped each night with massive attendance, as German-Nigerian artist Odeal and D.C.’s own Yung Manny reflected on the weekend’s deeper purpose after their own performances.
“This is [hopefully] the first of many, but very few events that cater to our demographics,” Odeal told The Informer on Sunday. “It’s more than just music; it’s really about legacy … and creating opportunities for everybody to be able to follow their dreams — for other creatives, other artists, other people of color who want to work in the industry.”
Boahen Kwakye, an aspiring entrepreneur, and Adriana Gonzales credited the display with showing how diasporic representation has evolved over the years.
Kwakye admitted it wasn’t long ago that something as simple as eating one’s cultural foods or listening to certain music was often relegated to privacy, depending on surroundings. In Gonzales’ case, growing up Haitian-American meant she was deeply embedded in her culture, but rarely saw it reflected in day-to-day South Florida.
“Being able to come up here and see people that are also Haitian, but from different parts of the U.S. or [people from] outside of the country…celebrating, dancing, having fun, and getting along … you don’t really see that often,” Gonzales, 22, told The Informer. “I definitely think that AfroPlus is not only good for our people, but representation as well. I hope they continue to do it in the following years.”
A Homecoming That ‘Belongs in the DMV’
It’s safe to say the phrase “go big or go home” took on new meaning at the Prince George’s festival, which essentially did both.
The 2025 inaugural debut — held at the Festival Grounds at RFK Campus in Northeast D.C. — brought a sold-out one-day show to 20,000 fans, and estimated $10 million in local economic impact. This year, drawing six times the crowd and three times the campus capacity, organizers expect up to $60 million back into the local economy, all the while forging diasporic ties that last well beyond Labor Day weekend.
“When people come [here], everyone’s been living their everyday lives, everyday job, and [all] they see is their bubble. But this — it’s an opportunity for people to [be inspired]…have that unity between other folks like themselves,” Odeal told The Informer.
Featuring ‘Made in the DMV’ performers like Mannywellz, Foggie Raw, Flow & Friends, plus Shy Glizzy on Sept. 6, local pride was as prominent as the multicultural flags scouring the grounds.
In its second year, Afro Plus Fest Founder and Executive Producer Michael Awosanya championed it as a “homecoming” for Prince George’s. Meanwhile, County Executive Aisha Braveboy pointed to the festival as an example of everyday culture in one of the nation’s most Black affluent regions.
After saluting her Grenadian and recently learned Nigerian lineage, she lauded the county’s undeniable presence of first-generation Americans descending from immigrants who built this nation, noting that diversity and the motherland have historically influenced DMV DNA.
“Our power is in our diversity. Our power is in the fact that we speak different languages, come from different places, but we all chose to live here because this is the greatest county in the world,” Braveboy told The Informer, “and we represent the world.”
During day two, and ahead of an electric set from Nigerian artist Tems, Moore emphasized that part of his role as Maryland’s governor is to embody what he believes people should lean on in the current political climate.
By expanding outreach to the larger diaspora and continuing to invest in young people’s ideas — such as events like Afro Plus Fest — Maryland leaders are leaning on a forward strategy that Braveboy says is all about being “of and for the people.”
As such, Moore noted that hosting the festival is not simply a big deal in the DMV, but frankly, it’s “the only place it belongs.”
“For those people who think that the idea of progress is retreat, I think that they are sorely mistaken,” he told The Informer, after crediting DMV culture as “the beat the whole country moves to.”
“This is a moment not where we have to be isolationist, but…when we really have to go and extend our hands to the entire global community,” the governor continued. “That’s exactly what the United States needs to be doing.”
Onward, Upward, and Room for Improvement
After a storm set the opening back three hours, Afro Plus Fest finally kicked off with clear roads and admittedly some challenges attendees hope to see handled differently next year.
Gonzales said her Sept. 4 experience amounted to nearly an hour-long wait to get into the festival, due to what she recalled as “no type of organization” to combat the muscle crowd spanning tiers from GA (General Admission) to Platinum and VIP.
Later that night, videos surfaced on social media of people swarming the gates to get into the secluded Platinum section of Friday’s show, which ultimately resulted in threats to stop performances until things calmed down, Gonzales said.
“I think if they had a lot more precautions in place, it would have been a lot more organized,” she continued, while acknowledging the combination of factors at play. “At the end of the day, there are going to be certain people that are just going to do what they want to do, and there’s only so much you can do to prevent that…it was kind of just mixed with both.”
By early Saturday morning, TikTok and X (formerly known as Twitter) lit up with posts from several attendees who claimed they were unnecessarily maced by security at the height of Friday night.
Farquharson and Omone Eirebamen, 23, told The Informer they weren’t around for it, but found themselves caught in the fray when an alleged fight between two men, as reported in a statement from Afro Plus Fest, knocked over a trash can around 9 p.m. Saturday.
From there, people fled the scene in droves under the pretense that the sound heard was a gunshot escalating the fight.
“And you know, when one Black person runs, the rest of us run, so we just took off,” Farquharson said, laughing. “We tried to slow down to see what’s really going on, but [the large crowds running] just kept happening, and then we ended up outside. Unfortunately, I did not get to see Tems, so I was kind of sad about that.”
Admittedly, the mishap wasn’t enough to deter folks from the overall fun of the festival.
The Informer spoke with multiple attendees throughout the weekend, most of whom felt that, despite a rocky start, security measures did see some improvement each day.
Sunday’s finale saw the best turnout, Gonzales said, commending the noticeable differences in wait times and wristband checkpoints.
Among potential improvements for the 2027 convening, attendees said organizers should consider implementing more security throughout the festival grounds along with more efficient systems to keep ticketholders and crowd control at bay.
Until then, Gonzales said she looks forward to returning for year 3, while Braveboy sees more opportunities for Prince George’s to demonstrate what’s possible when people invest in what unites them, not division.
“Politics ebbs and flows…but what remains the same is, I believe, the human condition: humanity itself,” Braveboy told The Informer, “and if we treat each other like brothers and sisters, no matter where we’re from, I think the world becomes a better place. And we will always win when we’re together.”
