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9th Annual 'Taste Of Soul' Festival Takes Over The Crenshaw District

SOUTH LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com)  —  The 9th annual "Taste of Soul Festival" -- combining music and food and art -- was held Saturday in South Los Angeles and literally took over the Crenshaw district.

More than 350,000 people attended the one-day event which offers terrific music and great food and fun for the entire family.

CBS2's Pat Harvey and 97.4 The Wave's Pat Prescott co-chair and emcee the event which is co-sponsored by CBS2 and KCAL9.

The event (from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.) was held on Crenshaw Boulevard (between Stocker and Rodeo) with many people coming to sample the various food fare and many well-known R&B musicians, including  singers Tyrese, Tank, Angie Fisher, Syleena Johnson,Troop and AKNU. the brother act who rose to fame from  "X-Factor."

CBS2's Adrianna Weingold spoke to many festival fans who say on this day there is no place on Earth they'd rather be.

She enjoyed the assignment, too -- sampling Cajun catfish, French beignets and peach cobbler.

Festival attendee Dwight Owens also enjoyed his time at the event immensely.

"I'm experiencing the people, the niceness and, of course, this food I just purchased," Owens said.

It was the 5th time popular Uncle Darrow's Cajun Creole restaurant made the event.

"We have people from every walk of life here," enthused the restaurant's Norwood Clark Jr., "You have a real way of connecting with the people, or just meeting folks like yourself, and people from all over the world. This thing has grown so big."

Pat Harvey loves the enthusiasm of the crowd.

"You look out from that stage," she said, "and you just see hundreds of thousands of people, lined up and down Crenshaw Boulevard. It's all about the family and fun and they come out here to participate, have some of this wonderful food and hear this great music."

Bobby Brown introduced his new food line (earlier in the day, he came by KCAL9 to do the same.) and Queen Latifah was the first celebrity co-chair in the event's history.

"I support it every year, I come every year," Latifah said, "Good food, good music, good fun. That's what it's about."

 

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