Saturday, September 11, 2021 from 11 AM until 5PM. The event will be based at the City of Bridgeton Riverfront but may extend to the city park (Vendor set up day)

Sunday, September 12, 2021 - The Prince Hall Day Observation will be held beginning at 3 PM at Union Baptist Temple in Bridgeton.

A statewide event, Prince Hall Community Festival and Prince Hall Day Observation, sponsored by the Prince Hall Grand Lodge, State of New Jersey is to be held in the City of Bridgeton on September 11th and September 12, 2021. The Prince Hall Community Festival is scheduled for Saturday, September 11, 2021 from 11 AM until 5PM. The event will be based at the riverfront but may extend to the city park. The Prince Hall Day Observation will be held on Sunday, September 12, 2021, beginning at 3 PM at Union Baptist Temple in Bridgeton. The City of Bridgeton is a full partner in this event and has extended every courtesy and assistance available

Prince Hall ( c. 1735/8—1807) was an abolitionist and leader in the free black community in Boston. He founded Prince Hall Freemasonry and lobbied for education rights for African American children. He was also active in the back-to-Africa movement.
Prince Hall, one of Boston's most prominent citizens during the revolutionary period, was the founder of the African Lodge of the Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons of Boston, the world's first lodge of black Freemasonry and the first society in American history devoted to social, political, and economic improvement.

Hall was active in the affairs of Boston's black community, using his position as "Worshipful Master" of the black Masons to speak out against slavery and the denial of black rights. For years, he protested the lack of schools for black children and finally established one in his own home.

In his last published speech, his charge to the African Lodge in June 1797, Hall spoke of mob violence against blacks: "Patience, I say; for were we not possessed of a great measure of it, we could not bear up under the daily insults we meet with in the streets of Boston, much more on public days of recreation. How, at such times, are we shamefully abused, and that to such a degree, that we may truly be said to carry our lives in our hands, and the arrows of death are flying about our heads....tis not for want of courage in you, for they know that they dare not face you man for man, but in a mob, which we despise..."

Prince Hall died in 1807 at the age of 72. A year later, his lodge honored him by changing its name to Prince Hall Grand Lodge.
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One of the objectives of the Prince Hall Community Festival, in addition to food, entertainment and other vendors, is to make the community aware of the programs and services that are available to them, to give the community access to health screenings and other on-site services that might be available.

Cumberland County services and programs are important to the residents of our County. All County Departments are consistently providing education to the community through face to face interaction, program and activities to engage the community, and partnership outreach.

This event has been held yearly in different locations throughout the state. This is the first event year after Covid-19 and the first time it has been held this far south, in Cumberland County. This event has historically attracted thousands of visitors from the statewide and local areas.