WASHINGTON — One of the biggest music festivals is back in Washington this weekend. This is when those big names will show up in DC – as part of the Broccoli City Festival.
There's more to this two-day event offered outside of the concert. The founders of the festival found ways to incorporate free events and ways for people to make an impact within the community.
Broccoli City Festival is making its debut at a new location this year, it’s at Audi Field and with it comes a much bigger crowd.
“You got the Meg the Stallions of the world, you got the Victoria Monets, PartyNextDoors... you got the Tanner Adell, so you have the country music,” founder, Brandon McEachern said.
This all originated from a block party to promote their clothing line and Earth Day back in 2010.
“When we dropped the T-shirts, we would do events to promote the T-shirts,” McEachern said. “So, after a while the events actually became a thing.”
This year they expect thousands of people to attend the various events, hosted across the city.
“50,000 maybe folks,” McEachern said.
As the audience grows so has the vision for the founders of Broccoli City Festival, Brandon McEachern, Jermon Williams, Marcus Allen, and Darryl Perkins.
“When you think about Broccoli City one thing that we offer is impact which is in our community really giving back, not talking about it being about it but on the other side entertainment right so a great way to mix that is doing a festival,” McEachern said.
Many people know about this because of the concerts, but it originated with a different goal. McEachern initially started this in Los Angeles where he lived at the time and then brought it to its permanent home in the District. The goal was to promote environmental awareness within the Black community and provide more opportunities for people who need them.
“They knew the music, they know what’s going on it’s fast pace it just makes sense it’s DC,” McEachern said.
“Even at the LA show we had a couple DC artists come out,” founder, Jermon Williams said.
Broccoli City still dedicates time to the home-grown talent and will have a city stage right outside Audi field that will feature artist from the DC, Maryland, Virginia.
Events begin before the festival, including several networking and volunteering events and even job fairs that don’t require concert tickets.
“We also have a conference called, Broccoli Con, and we usually do it two days before the festival,” McEachern said. “They're more shaped like job fairs because at the end of the day it’s about providing opportunities for us, for our community, and letting others see what’s possible.”
The activities span from a pitch competition to community center clean ups, community walk, run and bike rides and panel discussions.
They've created dozens of programs like “We Chip N” where people can volunteer their time at local community centers to earn free festival tickets. People login online to find volunteer opportunities and read up on environmental facts and articles to build points and earn tickets to events.
“It’s really an investment that they’re making in the community right, to give back and celebrate our culture,” Williams said.
Now to get a better idea of all the events and how you can attend some for free or get more involved with the Broccoli City Fest community, you can click here.