The African Immigrants Association needs volunteers for:

• vendor monitoring from 3 to 7 p.m.;

• children’s amusement tent from 4 to 7 p.m.;

• parking monitoring from 3 to 5 p.m.;

• merchandise sales from 3 to 7 p.m.;

• bucket brigade for donations from 4 to 7 p.m.;

• set-up from noon to 4 p.m. and break down from 7 to 9 p.m.

Contact: Bruno Yomoah at 240-4832 or [email protected]

International dance, food flavor festival

AUBURN – The L/A Africana Festival will be held Saturday, Sept. 1, with international drumming, African dance and a broad array of food.

The festival, hosted by the African Immigrants Association, will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. at Festival Plaza. The rain date is Sunday, Sept. 2. Attendance and parking will be free.

Entertainment will include drumming by Inanna and Mudzimu, as well as Bernie Vigna of Maine and Nigerian Kokoma of Massachusetts. Dance beats will be provided by a world-renowned Congolese band, Rumbafrica from Massachusetts and Lotino Acholi of Portland.

“The list of groups wishing to perform continues to grow, and is only constrained by the tight schedule of the festival itself,” said Bruno Yomoah, festival coordinator.

He said there will be lots of food available from African, Asian, Latin and Western vendors.

Although the festival will open officially at 4 p.m., food and beverage sales will start at 3 p.m. to give attendees enough time to enjoy the food before turning to the music and dancing that will fill the afternoon. There will be a tent devoted to children’s activities and amusements.

State and congressional legislators are expected to attend, with Lewiston Mayor Laurent Gilbert and Auburn Mayor John Jenkins presiding as co-chairmen of the event.

“This first L/A Africana Festival is an attempt to register an awareness of our existence within the community, and to solicit community support for our programs,” Yomoah said in a press release. “It is timed to be the last festive event that students and workers experience before the leisurely days of summer give way to the hectic programs of fall.”

The African Immigrants Association was registered as a nonprofit in May 2006, Yomoah said. Its goal is to provide services and programs to improve the lives of individuals and families recently emigrated from Africa, he said.