Schedule:

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Introducing…The NC Rice Festival

This event will provide those new to and visiting the area with a solid knowledge base to understand the rationale behind the annual Rice Festival and the significant role rice and Gullah Geechee culture played in the early North Carolina Lowcountry.
Come view two NCRF-produced videodocumentaries and hear local historians' and descendants' presentations for those who are unfamiliar with the Festival or Brunswick County’s rich history of rice cultivation and Gullah Geechee heritage. One of the videos focuses on the history of rice cultivation in the North Carolina Lowcountry. The other highlights the importance of rice to Gullah Geechee and southern cuisine. Both were produced in 2021 with funding support from the Leland Tourism Development Authority and the Brunswick Arts Council. A question-and-answer session will follow.
FREE, but seating limited. Reserve your seat on Eventbrite

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Thursday, March 6, 2025

Ancestry Reveal Event

Join local residents as they explore the ancestral connections between their families and the people of West Africa’s Rice Coast.” Cohosted again this year with African Ancestry Inc. (AAI), will bring together a panel of local African American residents who, months ago, voluntarily sent samples of their DNA to AAI for analysis. AAI is the world leader in tracing maternal and paternal lineages of people of African descent to their ethnic origins.

Dr. Gina Paige, African Ancestry’s cofounder and CEO, will lead the program, expertly explaining the science of genetic matching and how the ethnic ancestries of African Americans can be traced back to specific cultural groups. She will also reveal the findings from each participant’s unique DNA tests to them and the audience and allow the participants to reflect on the significance of their new-found knowledge about their heritage. In previous years, the panelists’ reactions to their revealed findings have been profound and moving, ranging from surprise and joy to tears.
And, as has been the tradition for this thrice-repeated event, the evening will be topped off by a savory, Gullah Geechee rice-based dish, prepared by none other than the NCRFI’s award-winning Festival Culinarian, Keith Rhodes of Catch Restaurant.

ADMISSION FREE, but seating limited. Reserve your seat on Eventbrite

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Friday, March 7, 2025

1:00 PM – 2:30 PM - Dedication of The Reaves Chapel

Location: Cedar Hill Road NE, Navassa, NC

INVITATION ONLY/RSVP REQUIRED

brings a new event, the dedication ceremony and private reception for the newly restored Reaves Chapel, an historic structure built by newly emancipated African Americans during the late 1800s, which once served as both a religious center and a social and cultural hub for the area’s local Gullah Geechee communities.
Scores of state and local dignitaries, organizational representatives, and community partners have been invited to commemorate this event, which is collectively hosted by the North Carolina Rice Festival, Inc., the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust, and the Cedar Hill/West Bank Heritage Foundation. with the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust and the Cedar Hill/West Bank Heritage Foundation.

5:00 PM - The NC Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Gala

Location: Leland Cultural Arts Center (LCAC), 1212 Magnolia Village Way, Leland, NC 28451

Once again, this event promises an exquisite, Gullah Geechee-themed and inspired, four-course meal, expertly prepared by Festival Culinarian Keith Rhodes. A Gullah Geechee-themed performance by Shea Ra Nichi and The Cultural Ensemble will headline the evening along with speakers from state and local supporting organizations.

Another Gala highlight is its silent auction, which will offer an array of artworks, hand-crafted and curated items, A VIP and unique outdoor and cultural experience packages donated by Festival vendors, to be sold to the highest bidders.  A Cash Bar will be available.

A VIP Reception for donors and sponsors (by invitation only) will precede the Gala at 4:30pm, to be held at the nearby headquarters of WWAY-TV3 , 1224 Magnolia Village Way, Leland. The doors to the Cultural Arts Center will open at 5:00pm for for Gala guests. To expedite the typically full program at this typically sold-out event, dinner service at this year’s Gala will be buffet-style.

Tickets $130/person

Saturday, March 8, 2025

The 2025 North Carolina Rice Festival

The 2025 events lineup will culminate on Day 4 with the day-long North Carolina Rice Festival, returning once again to the historic Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson site on the banks of the Brunswick River.

Surrounded by some of the County's largest former rice plantations, this venue offers an excellent site for festivities and reflection on the Rice Festival’s dual themes. With plenty of free parking, scenic views, and a delightful riverwalk, the site provides ample room for the Festival’s Come Hear NC Stage, sponsored by the North Carolina Department of Natural & Cultural Resources and spotlighting live NC-based bands and performers.

It is also a great spot for the Gullah Geechee Corridor Commission Stage, hosting historical presentations and panels under a giant tent, and the Brunswick and North Carolina Arts Councils’ Children’s Pavilion, where lots of fun, educational activities, storytelling, and demonstrations for young children and teens will take place.

 Among the exciting, virtually “all-Gullah Geechee” lineup of presenters, performers, and speakers to grace these 2025 stages will be Marquetta Goodwine, aka “Queen Quet,” widely proclaimed as the “Chieftess of the Gullah Geechee Nation.”  A native of St. Helena Island, South Carolina, Queen Quet founded of the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition and was the first person of Gullah Geechee origin to speak on behalf of that cultural/ethnic group before the United Nations.

Professional storyteller and actress Carolyn Evans will also showcase her original dramatic performance, “Harriett Tubman—Civil War Days” from the Corridor stage.  Other live performers include Tendaji Bailey, founder of the Gullah Geechee Futures Project, which aims to educate the public about the rich history and culture of Gullah Geechee communities throughout the coastal southeast and beyond. Added to this premier cultural/historical mix will be a presentation from historian Daniel Jones, the cultural curator at Wilmington’s Cameron Art Museum and coordinator of its Boundless Sculpture Garden Park. He will speak about the U.S. Colored Troops who fought at the Battle of Forks Road and aided mightily in the capture of Wilmington, which led to the end of the Civil War.

Also returning to this year's Come Hear NC Stage will be last year’s Gala headliners, Shea Ra Nichi and The Cultural Ensemble, presenting a new, original performance reflecting even deeper aspects of North Carolina’s unique Gullah Geechee history and culture. Dancer-choreographer Nichi was recently selected to join the NCRFI board earlier this year, and she has brought her eclectic background as a cultural interpreter specializing in African and Indigenous dance forms to the organization’s benefit in this year’s Festival programming.

Another NC-based ensemble, Africa Unplugged, led by djembe drum master, guitarist, and songwriter Atiba Rorie,  will also be featured on the Come Hear NC stage. Africa Unplugged combines West Africa traditional percussion with guitars and bass to evoke traditional rhythms and influences from new and old worlds. An additional NC-based performer on that stage will be the SolTree Reign Band and Mahlaynee Cooper. Cooper is a poet, singer, artivist, rtistic director, and teaching artist and the founder of Speak Ya Peace NC, which champions awareness of injustices through art and activism, with her band adding a musical dimension to their endeavors.  

The Festival’s Children’s Pavilion is a collaboration between the NCRFI, the Brunswick Arts Council, and the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson Historic Site. Funded in part by the state’s Department of Natural & Cultural Resources and the North Carolina Arts Council’s Grassroots Program, the Pavilion will host drumming, dancing, and singing with Harriet Tubman reenactor Carolyn Evans and storyteller Marva Moss. Together, they will provide lively and insightful narrative tales drawn from Gullah Geechee history and culture and the resilience of both to the delight of young and old.

Tendaji Bailey’s Gullah Geechee Futures Project will also present on the children’s stage a dramatic presentation geared toward younger audiences. That performance, titled “Cast, Woven, Forged: The Art of Gullah Geechee Labor,” is a dynamic piece that blends traditional and folk Gullah Geechee art with innovative digital and immersive experiences.  Additional Gullah Geechee heritage artisans and craftspeople presenting at the Children’s Pavilion will educate, inspire, and engage youthful audiences with hands-on learning experiences and cultural demonstrations covering an array of practical and artistic themes such as Gullah Geechee blacksmithing traditions, the artistry and cultural significance of sweetgrass basketry, and the making of cast fishing nets.

And, free copies of the highly popular North Carolina Gullah Geechee Activity Book will once again be distributed from the Children’s Pavilion this year. NCRFI-produced with funding from the collaborating arts councils and The Landfall Foundation, that 36-page booklet presents a wide range of fun facts, coloring, music, recipes, and learning activities for children from third grade on up—all with the goal of teaching them about the history of rice cultivation and Gullah Geechee culture in coastal North Carolina, particularly in Brunswick County and Brunswick Town.

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Date: March 5-8, 2025

Location: Various locations in NC

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