By Glenn Rolfe

SEAFORD — The Eastern Shore AFRAM Festival, an annual showcase of African American heritage and diversity, continues Aug. 10, rounding out its homestretch.

The site will be the grounds of the Ross Mansion on Ross Mansion Road. Highlights include a Healthy Living Walk, a car show, a pageant, a gospel hour, local talent and opening and closing ceremonies.

The walk kicks off the festivities at 8 a.m., with the car display and opening ceremony set for 10. The event will close at 6.

This is the 27th year for AFRAM. Its founder Pat Jones said the plan is to hold three more.

In 2023, she passed the executive director baton to Jaylin Powell, and this year, Darrynn Harris is serving as interim executive director.

“What I plan to do is catch the baton running for the next three years, and then, on the 30th anniversary, we will retire this event,” Ms. Jones said. “We will have our grand finale.”

The reason boils down to a decline in volunteers, she added.

“They are few and far between in a lot of agencies and organizations. We can’t keep wearing the same people year after year to a breaking point. So, we have agreed to spread out and do our own entities of nonprofit. I am going to retire the event, which I almost did on the 25th anniversary.”

Mr. Harris looked ahead, saying, “The festival as we see it now may go away but AFRAM will always be around. We have started in the last couple of years with looking at how we can continue to celebrate our culture and heritage in our community year-round, not just on one day in August.”

He noted AFRAM’s MLK Prayer Breakfast and Black History Month Expo.

“We may only have three more years of the festival left, but we’ll still be around and being active in our community,” he said.

Ms. Powell is spearheading the walk, which has the theme of “Stop the Gun Violence.”

In addition, a Motown show will feature Christy Taylor of Shades of Blue.

“Our big push this year was for local talent,” Mr. Harris said. “I didn’t want to have to bring in people from outside of our community to entertain us when we have such talent within 50 miles of us. Really, the entire show is local this year.”

Mr. Harris and Latoya Harris are coordinating the AFRAM Pageant, whose presenting sponsor is the Delta Alpha Beta Zeta chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority. Through its support, contestants can enter for free.

“Last year, they were there as a vendor and sponsor,” Mr. Harris said. “They really took interest in the youth development that we were doing, particularly with the young ladies in the pageant.”

The contest includes age divisions from 4-18. On-site registration will begin at 9:30 a.m.

A new attraction at AFRAM 2024 will be Double Dutch Therapy, a jump-roping group.

“They will show us and tell us how it can help with your mental health and, of course, your physical health,” Ms. Jones said.

Admission is free to AFRAM. In conjunction, the Seaford Historical Society is offering half-price tours of the Ross Mansion for $5.