Jan 4, 2023 - News
How Detroit built the world's largest Kwanzaa Kinara
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The Kwanzaa Kinara at Campus Martius. Photos: Samuel Robinson/Axios
Local leaders built the largest Kwanzaa Kinara ever made at the end of last year as a way to celebrate the holiday and Detroit's status as the largest-in-the-nation Black majority city.
Driving the news: The display was lit at Campus Martius during a celebration at Beacon Park on Dec. 26, the first day of the Kwanzaa holiday.
- "We're saying this is worthy of a worldwide celebration," Greg McKenzie of Alkebu-Lan Village, a youth outreach organization, told a crowd of about 200 people inside a heated tent provided by DTE.
How it happened: Council member Scott Benson reached out to Marvis Cofield, co-founder of Alkebu-Lan Village, asking about the possibility of building a Kwanzaa Kinara on the same scale as the other holiday displays at Campus Martius.
- The 30-foot tall wooden structure was constructed by an all-Black team of architects and engineers, McKenzie said.
