Taste of Soul Family Festival returns to Leimert Park for its 18th year

California's largest outdoor street festival is back at Leimert Park Saturday, and a stretch of Crenshaw Boulevard is packed with vendors and performance stages, ready for Taste of Soul attendees.

Taste of Soul is described by its founder as a party with a purpose. It's a day-long celebration of culture, food and fun along Crenshaw Boulevard from Stocker Street to Obama Boulevard. 

The brainchild of the event, community activist and newspaper publisher Danny Bakewell Sr., started Taste of Soul in 2005, when some 15,000 visitors came out. 

In the almost two decades since its debut, it has become a draw for families, politicians and celebrities alike, becoming California's largest street party.

"In my mind, I was saying 'We need something in our community that allows our people to come out and enjoy each other,'" Bakewell said.

Bakewell envisioned a huge block party but faced a bit of pushback because of gangs potentially causing trouble during the event.

"No, that's the wrong mindset," he said. "Gang members are our children. That's our grandchildren. That's our nieces and our nephews. We want them to come out and we want their parents to come. Nobody's going to create any trouble because they are respectful of everybody who's there."

Early on, getting permits for the festival was an uphill battle. 

"It's such an easy thing to do," Bakewell said. "People do it all the time in their communities but for whatever reason, it's something that people made us believe is taboo in our community. You can't get together in large numbers. It's a little threatening. No, it's not."

Bakewell disagreed with the naysayers and called Crenshaw Boulevard the "Mecca of Black business."

"Crenshaw Boulevard is the Mecca of Black business," he said. "If we can't enjoy our community, where can we do it?"

Food is one of the biggest draws, if not the star of Taste of Soul. 

"We cook better than anybody on the planet," said Bakewell. "Fried fish, catfish, gumbo — these are things we not only invented but we do very well every day."

The event houses over 300 vendors and features four stages, including one for children, another for today's hitmakers and a gospel stage.

"We have a whole assortment of gospel choirs that is just gonna rock it all day long," said Bakewell. 

Every year, the crowd has grown. In 2019, it swelled to 300,000. Bakewell said that from the stage the crowd seems to go as far as your eye can see. 

"This event is the community's event," he said. "It's our home but everybody's welcome."

Actress Tiffany Haddish will be this year's celebrity chair. 

Taste of Soul does not provide parking. Street parking is available in the surrounding areas.

Festival organizers recommend taking Metro as an option. The K Line train has two stations that make it easy to reach the festival — Expo/Crenshaw Station and Martin Luther King, Jr. Station. The E Line train's Expo/Crenshaw Station is also a short stroll to the festival.