Brief History of Origin of Gullah Festival. During the late 70’s and early 80’s, Mrs. Rosalie Pazant, while working on a city committee was approached by Mrs. Lillian Jennings who suggested that it would be nice if Mrs. Pazant could spearhead or plan some sort of a cultural event to be held in Beaufort. Mrs. Pazant did not pursue the idea at that time. The idea of Mrs. Jenning’s previous suggestion was not really considered until 1986 when 5 women, just together for fun, began a discussion about the “good old days” of how our black community would celebrate “Decoration Day.” Those women were Mrs. Rosalie Pazant, her daughters Charlotte Pazant Brown, Lolita Pazant Harris, and Reba Pazant Hunt and a family friend, Marlena McGhee. They threw around several names and finally came up with a name representative of the area. They decided to call our new venture “The Gullah Festival.” They wanted to make the festival have the “Decoration Day” flavor but with much more. Those five women then seriously began planning some of the types of entertainment they would like to have. Once some major decisions were made about the purpose of the festival, Mrs. Pazant took the leadership role in making our dream a reality.

The first year of the festival was 1986. There were approximately thirty-five people in attendance. The festival has been in existence for 21 years now and may have had up to as many as 70 thousand people in attendance over the course of a three day period.

After the first year, Marlena McGhee, a co-founder, moved on to begin her own entertainment group. Another co-founder, Lolita Pazant Harris passed in 1989. The three remaining co-founders are still working hard with many family and friends to make sure that the dream once started, remains alive.

At present, our Board of Directors is the group of individuals who do most of the “leg work” and consist of the President and five Vice Presidents, each with special duties. The Executive Committee members are those chairpersons who meet each month to assist with festival planning. The volunteers are those dedicated individuals who give their time for a full weekend to make sure that this festival flows smoothly.

It was decided the festival would always be held the weekend before Memorial Day because we did not want to interfere with the annual Memorial Day festivities. This year’s festival will be held at the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park and other historical sites within the historic city of Beaufort.

The Gullah Festival is a non-alcoholic festival. It is family oriented and has become an excellent vacation spot for all types of reunion activities, community groups and friendly gatherings. Our festival will always have as one of its goals to educate. We educate in our pre-festival activities and we educate all during the festival through our selection of entertainment. The festival committee presents awards and donates to the community in a variety of ways. The festival activities include such entertainment as, jazz, blues, reggae, gospel, storytelling, dance, arts & crafts, food court, vendors market, educational forums, teen summits, beauty pageant, art shows, museum displays, dances and plays.