Harlem Week 2025: A Celebration of Culture and a Farewell to Its Visionary

Harlem, N.Y. — For more than five decades, Harlem Week has been a summer anchor, bringing together the rhythms, tastes, and voices of one of New York’s most storied neighborhoods. This year’s edition, held from August 1 through 17 under the theme “Celebrate Our Magic,” was a festival of joy shadowed by loss: the death of Lloyd A. Williams, Harlem Week’s co-founder and the longtime president of the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce.

A Festival of Continuity

135th Street became the pulse of the 2025 celebration, where music stages, food vendors, children’s activities, and cultural showcases drew tens of thousands of visitors. Families lined the avenue, where gospel choirs gave way to jazz quartets, and spoken word artists alternated with drill dancers and Afrobeats collectives.

The diversity of offerings reflected Harlem Week’s mission from its beginnings: to honor Harlem’s past, showcase its present, and shape its future.

Remembering the Founders

Harlem Week began in 1974 as Harlem Day, envisioned by Williams, Percy Sutton, and Voza Rivers as a one-day neighborhood celebration to counter narratives of decline and to rally community pride. The event was so successful that it expanded into Harlem Week the following year and has since grown into a globally recognized festival spanning arts, business, health, and civic life.

This summer marked a turning point. Williams, who died on August 6 at age 80, was remembered in tributes throughout the festival. Organizers, performers, and political leaders spoke of his decades-long leadership, his insistence on Harlem’s global stature, and his ability to convene everyone from street vendors to heads of state.

“He gave Harlem a platform when others wrote it off,” said Voza Rivers, Harlem Week’s current chairman and another of its co-founders. “This year, Harlem Week is for him.”

Civic Recognition

The festival also became a stage for new honors. Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation renaming the 110th Street–Central Park North station “110 St–Malcolm X Plaza,” and formally designated Harlem as the Harlem Renaissance Cultural District. The move reinforced what Harlem Week has embodied for decades — that Harlem’s cultural contributions are inseparable from New York’s identity.

Harlem’s Enduring Magic

This year’s theme, “Celebrate Our Magic,” was visible everywhere: in murals of jazz legends, in the sound of conga drums echoing down 135th Street, in the crowd’s call-and-response during a gospel set. But it also carried a deeper resonance — the recognition that Harlem Week has itself become part of Harlem’s magic.

What began as a single day in 1974 is now an institution that bridges generations, celebrates Harlem’s multicultural roots — African, Caribbean, Hispanic, European — and affirms a community still shaping the city and the world.

As the final notes of music faded on August 17, Harlem Week closed this chapter with both celebration and mourning — honoring the visionaries who created it, and ensuring that their legacy of pride and resilience endures.