Ebony Pride returns to San Diego Saturday, Aug. 23, with “A Village Celebration,” which organizers promise will be bigger and better than last year’s celebration, with a new festival location and more entertainment.

Last year’s event, which drew 500 people, was held in the parking lot of the Naval Hospital. This year’s Ebony Pride will be held in the picnic area on the eastern edge of Marston Point in Balboa Park. The festival site will be set up to look like an African village complete with huts.

“We wanted to bring in more of our heritage and the whole idea of ‘it takes a village to raise a child,’” Ebony Pride organizer Cheryl Robinson told the Gay and Lesbian Times. “It takes a village to raise a community, to enhance a community and help it grow and help people understand and see it as a unique part of the LGBT community.”

As a warm up to the big event, Ebony Pride hosted the Ebby Awards this past Saturday to honor friends and members of the GLBT African-American community here in San Diego. The event, which drew a modest crowd of 50 people, was held in the auditorium at The Center.

“I think for a first event it was a really good event,” said Robinson, who also helped organize the Ebby Awards. “People that I talked to said it was a really wonderful event and they were proud and elated to be at the first event because they saw this as being somewhat historical.”

She added, “It’s a good roll into Ebony Pride and it almost gives us a week of Pride.”

One of the keys to Ebony Pride being a success this year will be drawing in a larger crowd. To achieve that goal, organizers promoted the event at Los Angeles and Long Beach Pride this summer, and a “Pride Pass” sold for this year’s San Diego Pride Festival included admission to both Ebony Pride and Latin Pride.

“We only had like 500 people last year,” Sandra Clayborn, the executive director of Ebony Pride, told the Times. “We’re just getting the word out and making it very inclusive for everyone. That’s really the key.”

She added that this year they are hoping to attract 2,000 people to the one-day festival, which will include a broader entertainment lineup.

“This year they are incorporating a gospel concert, which is something that really excites me because most African-Americans have a strong spiritual background,” commented Robert Carter, who attended the event last year as a representative of Comprehensive Health. “There’s also going to be a spiritual workshop, so looking at last year and this year, those two stand out for me.”

Carter has also gotten his partner, Romie Wilford Jr., involved in Ebony Pride. This will be Wilford’s first Ebony Pride. Iin addition to attending the event, he has been working as a volunteer to help plan the festival.

Most importantly, though, organizers are hoping that not only the African-American community will turn out for Ebony Pride. Members of San Diego’s entire GLBT community and their family and friends are welcome.

“It’s for all people,” Wilford said. “We’re not just trying to single out African-Americans; it’s for all people, because in any struggle it takes all people — not just black people, but people of all different nationalities — to make it cohesive and to make it work. There will be something for everyone who comes out.”

The festival begins Aug. 23 at 12:00 noon and runs through 9:00 p.m. In addition to the live entertainment there will be a fashion show, DJs spinning music, games and a children’s area, and, as with any Pride celebration, plenty of ethnic food and vendors. Tickets are only $7, and for anyone interested in partying late, there will be an Ebony Pride after-party held at the Worldbeat Center, from 9:30 p.m. until 2:00 a.m., which will include music, dancing and a no-host bar.

For more information, visit the Gay and Lesbian Times online at www.gaylesbiantimes.com for a link to the Ebony Pride website.