Inside the 22nd Happily Natural Festival with Creator Duron Chavis
Duron Chavis, community activist, urban farmer, and change-maker rooted in Richmond, stands among the 5-acre Sankofa Community Orchard.
by Myles Black | Aug 21, 2025
A rooted path to understanding your community and yourself on a deeper level, The 22nd Happily Natural Event and Festival will be held next weekend in Richmond. Not only is it a possible introduction into discovering new ways to empower, improve and enrich your own life, but a chance to reconnect with nature in the process. The weekend, spanning three days, is connected to the non-profit that bears the same name, whose goal is to “Give people a platform. Putting people who might not know about these personalities and ideas, and giving them a chance to engage with it. In a no cost way, like there’s no risk involved. Just come here and check out what’s going on” says creator Duron Chavis.
Starting next Friday, with a Black Farm Tour, participants will go to several Black owned farms around the tri-city area that were started by Happily Natural. This will start at the Shockoe Burial Grounds to reconnect with purpose and meaning. One of the farms that the tour will go to is the Petersburg Oasis, which is 5 acres of land dedicated to teaching people of all ages how to cultivate their own food in areas that are known to be food deserts.
The second part of the event is the festival on Saturday which will be a space to come together, reflect and ruminate on current and past Black and Native life. It will be held at the fifth district mini farm on wise street and include a panel that will promote open discussions about food security, overall safety in today’s political climate and discussions on how to end the diaspora war that prevails within black culture across the globe. Saturday’s festival will include music from headliner Talib Kweli, Charm Taylor from New Orleans, Hezekiah out of Philly, Skip Coon hailing from Mississippi, and others.
“At the festival itself, we got performances, of course and music. But we're also having, in the early part of the day, panel discussions because for me, I think at this moment, we really need to talk like our community has a lot of shit going on, and we don't get an opportunity to really be in dialogue with each other. So we set aside like three hours, with three different panels that we're going to have, talking about Black food security, this whole diaspora war that's going on, and a conversation about safety in this [political] moment,” says Chavis. It will be a chance for people to ground themselves in their environment, find kindred peers, give back and uplift the Culture just by showing up and being yourself.
The three day event closes out on Sunday with ‘Another Black Beautiful Brunch’ that will include organic and vegan foods cultivated at the farms owned by Happily Natural, with performances by Navasha Daya and others. This event will be held at the Sankofa Community Orchard, at 11am out on Covington Rd. It’s charged with being a chill, laid back, no vendors, just everyone coming together to wind down from the year’s struggles and be together to celebrate just being yourself.
“We're having a concert in the back of the farm. Sunday is really kind of like the decompression moment [everyone] gets a chance to just kind of enjoy some food, chill out and vibe.” said Chavis.
This movement has evolved from a festival into actionable ways to create opportunities and build third spaces for black and native communities around the world. Their thought is that change for Black identity can start with many different points of entry, one of which is simply taking back control over your own sustenance — where you get your food from and who profits from it. One of the main goals is to build a network of Black Farms and companies that are within the culture which will then proliferate into a system that works for the people, not against us.
Come out to the Happily Natural Festival next weekend (8/29 - 8/31) and enjoy all of the different activities on the schedule for the event. Meet some people and gain some knowledge that could improve the quality of your life, and celebrate being naturally you with others that feel the same way.
Schedule of Events
- 8/29 | Black Farm Tour (Tickets)
- 8/30 | Happily Natural Festival - Main Event ft. Talib Kweli
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Photographs by Myles Black
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