Third annual Melanin in May festival to be bigger and better

Melanin in May, the festival celebrating all things Black, including business, art, music and food, is back for year three. Celebrated in Indianapolis during Memorial Day weekend, the day-long festival promises to be bigger and better this year with more than 150 local, Black-owned businesses, food trucks, musicians, artists and more, said festival founder and organizer of Naptown DONT SLEEP, Dominic Dorsey. “It’s just an amazing opportunity to experience so much — it’s sights, it’s sounds, it’s taste,” Dorsey said. “It’s really a symphony of the senses, but all from a very specifically Afrocentric lens.” Melanin in May’s origins stem from the Spring Black Business Bazaar in 2019, which hosted the first Black Food Truck Battle Royale. Now three years in, Dorsey said attendees can expect a bigger and better event all around, from the soundstage to the Afrocentric ArtWalk, Black-owned Food Truck Battle Royal, the Ebony Entrepreneur Cohort and local vendor market. “It’s a great feeling because it’s validated. It’s something that goes from thought to fruition and it’s like, wow, this was possible that people find value in it,” Dorsey said. “But then it becomes a thing … How can we continue to make this something that does...