Update-Project Kickoff

[Crestdale Community Project]

The Crestdale neighborhood is one of the oldest African-American communities in the United States of America, which was established soon after the Civil War. Today there is also a nearby Montagnard community, and the Crestdale Crossings neighborhood. It is due time that all the communities in the area and its friends come together in tribute and share the history and culture of Crestdale with the rest of Matthews, Charlotte and the world. Last night was the first planning meeting in Crestdale to make this happen.

Yesterday evening, at The United House of Prayer in the Crestdale neighborhood of Matthews, NC, different organizations and community members assembled together to plan how we will all celebrate the preservation and culture of the neighborhood.

Last night 15 to 20 supporters came to the meeting. The main event for The Crestdale Community Project- the Family Fun Field Day on July 11th at The United House of Prayer, is a go. Artists Sunya Folayan, Jen Crickenberger, and Dorne Pentes will come out and help work with the communities and its supporters with preserving and documenting the history of the area as well as illustrating it through art work of the participants. Sunya showed us some of the quilting and sun print examples that we will all be doing on the Family Fun Field Day and in the art workshops following the event in July. Harvey Boyd and Walter Stewart, established residents of the Crestdale neighborhood, came out and talked about the history of the Church, the area, as well as contributed to the planning of the event in July. Pastor Greg Watson of The United House of Prayer was more than welcoming to the guests last night and is generously letting the Crestdale Community Project supporters use the Church as a venue for the event in July. It was a great gathering and there was a spirit of enthusiasm and camaraderie, which initialized the kick off of the Project.