Put on your dancing shoes and get to steppin! With all the glitz and glammour and fancy moves the fifth Annual Atlanta Heritage Ball by Good Deeds International will be held Thursday, Feb. 16 through Sunday, Feb. 19 at the Georgia international Convention Center, 2000 Convention Center Parkway in College Park.
Dancers will arrive by plane, by train and bus from across the country to the civil rights city of the South to share in this annual shindig during Black History Month.
A major focus of the convention will be health and wellness. A health fair with vendors providing screenings and information on heart disease, sickle cell, hypertension and many others will be held, and a 5K run/walk will take place. Steppin is also a form of exercise that contributes to a healthy lifestyle.
“As a culmination of all our Good Deeds throughout the year, we come together in February in commemoration of Black History Month. The “Heritage Ball” is quickly becoming one of the nation’s stellar and highly anticipated annual steppers’ weekend events and is an eloquent “All Black Attire” beautifully themed “Celebrating Our Heritage – In Commemoration of Black History Month, said Cora O’Kelly, president of Good Deeds International, the nonprofit host organization.
The host committee consists of Ambassador Andrew and Mrs. Carolyn Young (chairs); Lisa Rayam, news anchor, Fox 5 TV; Veronica Waters, news anchor WSB Radio; Stepp Stewart, dance and fitness guru on the Dr. Oz TV show; Atlanta City Councilman Michael Julian Bond; Willie Watkins, Willie A. Watkins Inc.; College Park Councilman Tracy Wyatt; and Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau CEO/President William Pate
It is a four-day weekend affair consisting of a “Steppers’ Prelude” for early arrivals at the legendary Ellery’s, a warm welcome at host hotel Airport Marriott, including a hosted Champagne Hospitality Suite experience, a shuttle tour of Atlanta, which in the past has consisted of the
King Center for Nonviolent Change, the World of Coca Cola, the Atlanta University Center, Georgia Aquarium and an early evening dining experience at “Big Daddy’s Dish,” the home of Southern Style Cooking. Workshops will be held Friday and Saturday during the day.
Trumpeter Joey Summerville at the Atlanta Airport Marriott lobby 6 -7:30 p.m. to greet guests arriving on Thursday, Feb. 16, and an awards ceremony recognizing community work by Cedric Johnson, founder of Atlanta’s “The Scholar Keeper Inc.” and Monique Salter of Chicago, founder of “The Step & Think Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation.”
On Saturday, Feb. 18 there will be a 5 K run/walk from 7:30 to 10 a.m. at the Georgia International Convention Center. A health fair from 11:30 – 2 p.m. will include screenings and health and wellness information from the Atlanta Kidney Foundation, Sickle Cell Foundation, American Diabetes Association, CVS, Atlanta Human Performance Center and more.
A tailgating party hosted by Real Men Cook For Charity Atlanta is also scheduled for Saturday from 3-6 p.m. featuring 15 of Atlanta’s best chefs.
The main event is held at the state-of-the-art Georgia International Convention Center (GICC), and continues to increase significantly going from 300-plus people for a single night affair in February 2008 to well over 3,500 people for a four-night extravaganza. For more information and to purchase tickets visit the website at www.heritageball.com.
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