Fun at the Houston International Festival

By Rochelle Rucker
This past weekend I traveled to downtown Houston for some fun, food and relaxation at the Houston International Festival. For those of you who are not familiar with IFest, it fosters good will relations with other countries in an effort to stimulate culture and international trade. Each year, IFest offers a twist to the honored country theme. For me, it's a chance to eat various foods and purchase goods from vendors all across the world. From fragrance oils to ethnic art, it's all there at IFest. "Out of Africa: the Three Journeys," was this year's theme celebrating the rich history, achievements, contributions and triumphs of African people in Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, the United States and the rest of world. The highlight of this weekend excursion was visiting the Transatlantic Slave Trade Exhibit and the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum Exhibit. While strolling through the slave trade exhibit with my niece Audra and sister Thelma, we were quite surprised and excited to see Dr. Evelyn Bethune, the granddaughter of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, who was an extraordinary educator, civil rights leader, and government official who founded the National Council of Negro Women and Bethune-Cookman College. Dr. Bethune shared her story with us and said she will be back in Houston soon to do a book signing of her book "Mary's Grandbabies: From The Darkness of Slavery Into The Light of Freedom. IFest closed out in fine steppin style--two-steppin zydeco style that is! Step Rideau & The Zydeco Outlaws took us home at the Louisiana Stage with their two-steppin, toe-tappin Creole folk songs to classic rhythm and blues. Take a look at the video I uploaded at YouTube. You may see yourself groovin to the driving rhythms, funky beats and accordion riffs.