DeKalb County Public Library Announces Annual Doris K. Wells Heritage Festival

Fes­ti­val Coin­cides with the 30^th Anniver­sary of Wes­ley Chapel-William C. Brown Library’s Naming

DECATUR, Ga. – (Nov. 29, 2022) – The annu­al Doris K. Wells Her­itage Fes­ti­val starts on Dec. 1 and runs through Decem­ber and Jan­u­ary. The fes­ti­val high­lights DeKalb County’s diver­si­ty with more than 25 pro­grams, for all ages, at many DeKalb Coun­ty Pub­lic Library (DCPL) branches.

Pro­grams will fea­ture music, dance, food, crafts, infor­ma­tion­al work­shops, and more.

The fes­ti­val com­mences with an event on Dec. 10 at Wes­ley Chapel-William C. Brown Library. The event will include African folk­tales with children’s author Ada-Ari; fam­i­ly por­traits with pho­tog­ra­ph­er Kaylinn Gilstrap; a cook­ing demon­stra­tion; and a jew­el­ry-mak­ing expe­ri­ence with Vir­ginia Mil­ner. Reg­is­tra­tion is required for the Dec. 10 event.

“We invite the com­mu­ni­ty to come and cel­e­brate DeKalb County’s diver­si­ty by tak­ing part in one of our many pro­grams,” said DeKalb Coun­ty Pub­lic Library Direc­tor Ali­son Weissinger. ​“The Doris K. Wells Her­itage Fes­ti­val is one of DCPL’s most high­ly antic­i­pat­ed events, and this year is espe­cial­ly excit­ing because in-per­son events return.”

On Dec. 27, a Kwan­zaa cel­e­bra­tion will be held at Wes­ley Chapel-William C. Brown Library. The event will also rec­og­nize the 30^th anniver­sary of the nam­ing of the library after the late Dr. William C. Brown.

Reg­is­tra­tion is required for some events. See the list of Doris K. Wells Her­itage Fes­ti­val events on the events cal­en­dar.

About the Doris K. Wells Her­itage Fes­ti­val
The Doris K. Wells Her­itage Fes­ti­val cel­e­brates com­mu­ni­ties served by DeKalb Coun­ty Pub­lic Library. It was first cel­e­brat­ed in 1983 as the Kwan­zaa Aware­ness Fes­ti­val at Scott Can­dler Library, with more than 1,000 peo­ple in atten­dance. The Fes­ti­val hon­ors the diverse cul­tur­al her­itages of DeKalb Coun­ty res­i­dents. The late Doris K. Wells blazed a trail as DeKalb County’s first African Amer­i­can librar­i­an. Her lega­cy con­tin­ues to make a pos­i­tive impact on DeKalb County’s more than 700,000 residents.