Marafiki Center to host fifth annual Swahili Day at Gatton Park

The Marafiki Center will host the fifth annual Swahili Day festival at Gatton Park on Saturday, June 13.

Swahili is the third most spoken language in Lexington, excluding English, according to a 2025 report by Stacker. About 2,920 residents of Lexington speak the language, and Founder and Executive Director of the Marafiki Center Elisha Mutayongwa said Swahili Day creates a sense of belonging among those in the community.

“This is how they feel connected to the bigger community in Lexington,” Mutayongwa said.

The Marfiki Center is a non-profit that works to build cross-cultural connections. The organization offers six-week Swahili courses, hosts summer camps, provides transportation for its community and delivers back-to-school-supplies to those in need.

The organization also advocates for improved representation of the African and Swahili-speaking community in Lexington.

The event will start with a “Parade of Cultures,” where people will show off their traditional attire and display their home country’s flags. Following the parade, there will be 28 performances that vary from solo music performances to African dances.

Mutayongwa said this will be the largest number of performances to date.

The Rec Lawn at Gatton Park will also include a Soccer Village, with competitions throughout the day. Attendees can participate in one-on-one competitions, dribble contests and other challenges.

“Our community is huge with soccer,” Mutayongwa said.

The High School Afro Dance competition will return to the festival where teams will battle for a handcrafted trophy made by Kenyan artist Kiptoo Tarus. The reigning champs from 2025, Tates Creek High School’s The Joy of Africa, will be returning this year to defend their title.

Lexington-based fashion designer Daniel Mufanzala, or Prince, has also been welcomed back to the festival for the Swahili Day Fashion Show that brings “heritage and modern fashion together,” according to the Marafiki Center’s Facebook page.

At 6 p.m., Zimbabwe native and artist ChiChi Wembira will take the stage to play the mbira, a traditional African musical instrument, as well as dance and sing. Following Wembira will be the African Music Band performing Congolese music and internationally recognized DJ Dynamq closing out the night.

“That’s always been fun to give them that space,” Mutatongwa said.

Mutayongwa said he has seen the festival grow from a few hundred in attendance at the first Swahili Day in Lexington to more than 700 last year. Gatton Park will offer a larger space than years past for the festival in 2026 and Mutayongwa hopes to see festival attendance break 1,000 attendees.

“There’s always that drive (and) there’s always depth,” Mutayongwa said. “Even people are curious to just come see what the African communities look like.”

The event will be free to the public and run from at 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., followed by an after party at The Melroy social club on North Broadway. The after-party will be for those ages 25 and older and will run from 9:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.

The after-party will feature DJ Dee B and tickets can be bought for $30 on The Meloy’s website. All proceeds of the after-party will go towards programs put on by the Marafiki Center that support youth and families.