BlackBizFest aims to make Black-owned businesses top of mind for all KC consumers

Anticipation is growing for this spring’s debut BlackBizFest, said Marsha Willis, teasing a week-long celebration that puts Black excellence and entrepreneurship on full display. Among the standout elements of the May 13-19 festival: the Kansas City Black Expo and Black Business Ball & Honors. “We want people to put on their tourist hats, go participate, and patronize businesses that maybe they’ve never been to,” said Willis, CEO of Black Owned Business Kansas City (BOBKC), a group she founded in 2012 to help bridge the racial wealth gap by connecting Black business owners. For Willis, her passion for supporting Black businesses stems from her admiration of previous Black Expo events she attended in her childhood through shortly before the pandemic, when in-person gatherings paused — many failing to easily return.  “I remember the Black Expo being something where I would see all of the Black businesses and Black people together, and it just represented Black excellence,” she said. The revived Black Expo is being organized within BlackBizFest under BOBKC. In addition to such business activities such as a week-long tour of Black-owned businesses and vendors, the family-friendly festival offers a lively cultural experience with music performances, educational sessions, and ethnic cuisine,...