The Chicago Defender Charities Inc., producer of the annual Bud Billiken Day Parade and Picnic, is adding a new element to the day of family fellowship.
This
year's parade day activities will feature a gospel festival at noon, with a
lineup of veteran and emerging singers and choirs. The gospel fest will be held
in Washington Park on 51st Street between Cottage Grove and St. Lawrence. The
event will also serve as a tribute to the late legendary Chicagoan and gospel
icon Albertina Walker.
For this
inaugural event, the performance schedule includes: Walt Whitman and The Soul
Children of Chicago, just back from Sweden ministering in music; The Brown
Sisters, a quintet of award-winning sister singers who hail from the West Side;
The Nichols Sisters, a group of traditional gospel singers who are also cousins
to singer/actress Jennifer Hudson; The Victory Travelers, a quartet under the
direction of Deacon Reuben Burton that has been praising through music for at
least 25 years; Dexter Walker & Zion Movement, winners of the American
Heart Association's Power to End Stroke Most Powerful Voices competition; Janet
Sutton and The Voices of Acme church, winners in 2009 of the Verizon Wireless
How Sweet The Sound Best Church Choir competition; and Gospel Music According
to Chicago, a mass choir comprised of legends, novices and praise singers from
over 40 churches in the Chicagoland area.
Copyright
2011 Chicago Defender
