CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) Ty Cooper has seen the Charlottesville-Albemarle Black Business Expo grow over its nine years, and this Saturday’s installment has the chance to be the biggest to date.
But what Cooper takes the most pride in as the expo’s organizer is the way it showcases local, Black-owned businesses for an ever-growing audience.
“A lot of people are going to come out to Black owned businesses in Charlottesville, you see them as barber shops, beauty salons, restaurants, catering,” Cooper told Cville Right Now on Friday. “But you don’t tend to see them as tax accountants or other different areas. I think the impact is people are able to be introduced a new market. The attendees are becoming aware of these businesses.”
The ninth-annual expo will be held Saturday, starting at 9 a.m. at the Jefferson School City Center yard. Cooper expects over 40 vendors on hand for the day, which also includes three different educational panels – one on finance, one on marketing and one on technology – as well as concerts by Jen Tal and Ebony Groove.
There’s also a $1,500 contest for the best business pitch.
“People are invested in the event, from year to year, over the past nine years,” Cooper said. “I’m really proud of the event and the growth we’ve experienced.”
The event is being held, this year, in conjunction with the Jefferson African-American Heritage Center’s Junteenth celebration, which will include a parade that runs down Preston Ave.
It’s a particularly fitting tie-in, Cooper said, considering one of the driving factors behind the expo beginning was the events around the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017.
“We had a hate-filled tragedy happen in our town when the alt-right came to Charlottesville,” Cooper said. “The Black Business Expo was a direct response.”