TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – The Yuma Street Cultural Festival will celebrate Black culture and its rich history in Manhattan.

“This area of Manhattan was once segregated and of course it’s not today,” Yuma Street Cultural Center Founder David Baker said. “But people don’t know that and I just think history is so important to preserve and this gives us an opportunity to do that.”

Black Entrepreneurs of the Flint Hills is organizing the festival, hoping to celebrate both Black history and the different cultures present in the community today.

“The importance of bringing the community together is truly because of the times that we’re in,” Black Entrepreneurs of the Flint Hills Co-Founder Sheila Ellis-Glasper said. “It is an important time to come together now more than ever to learn about each other, to respect each other’s cultures.”

The event will have live music, food trucks and competitions. Attendees will also be able to take walking tours to learn about Yuma Street’s long history.

“There’s an old saying, ‘Once history is gone, if you don’t preserve it, you’ll never see it again.’” Baker said. “So I think it was so important to help preserve the black community’s history.”

“Letting those folks not be forgotten and continuing to lift up their name so that future generations know the history and where we’re going,” Ellis-Glasper said.

Funds raised from the festival will go towards the future home of Yuma Street Cultural Center.

“We’re doing it basically to help fix this building and also to preserve the history,” Baker said. “It’s just exciting, probably the biggest event that we’ve had on Yuma Street in many, many years.”

“There’s so much rich history on this street that we just want to share with everyone and celebrate that rich history, and celebrate our future moving forward,” Ellis-Glasper said.

The festival is next Sunday, Aug. 31 at 1 p.m. It is free to the public.

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