The air smells like barbecue smoke and Shea butter. Drums pound in the distance. Children weave through crowds with painted faces, and somewhere, someone is reciting Zora Neale Hurston’s words with the kind of reverence usually reserved for scripture. You’re in Eatonville, Florida — the oldest incorporated African American municipality in the United States — and the streets are alive with rhythm, resistance, and the spirit of one of the South’s greatest storytellers. This is not just a festival. It’s a revival.
What it is
The Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities, or simply ZORA! Festival, is part literary event, part cultural summit, and part street party. It takes place every January in Eatonville, Hurston’s hometown, just a few miles north of Orlando. Since its founding in 1990, ZORA! has become a beacon for Black intellectualism, art, music, and scholarship. The festival is built on Hurston’s legacy, but it also pulses with new voices, new beats, and an energy that’s equal parts joy and justice. Think of it as an Afrofuturist tent revival hosted by a folklorist who knew how to dance.
The main stage on Kennedy Boulevard is where the action begins. It’s a swirl of live music, African dance troupes, gospel choirs, and spoken word poets delivering lines like thunderclaps. Vendors line the street with vibrant kente cloths, oils, books, jewelry, and black-owned indie merch you won’t find at any mall. It smells like jerk chicken and tastes like freedom. Families bring lawn chairs. Elders nod knowingly.
Just off the street is the Zora Neale Hurston National Museum of Fine Arts, better known as The Hurston. This small but mighty space offers rotating exhibits from Black artists across the diaspora, from quiltmakers to Afrofuturist painters. It also hosts academic panels and book talks during the festival. In 1993, a curator hung a single Hurston quote above a door: “Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.” It’s still there. Zora Museum Official Site
Head to the “Outdoor Festival of the Arts” on the closing weekend for a spectacle of food, heritage, and joy. There are two stages of non-stop music: one for jazz and blues, the other for hip hop, soul, and roots reggae. Kids can build African drums in a pop-up workshop while parents line up for catfish nuggets and sweet tea. It’s intergenerational, interdimensional, and loud in all the best ways. This is where Eatonville feels most like itself: proud, playful, and unbothered by time.
For those seeking intellectual heat, the Afrofuturism Conference held at Rollins College in nearby Winter Park brings scholars, artists, and activists together for panels on Black speculative thought, cultural heritage, and the ever-evolving role of the African diaspora in literature and tech. Last year, a panelist opened with the line: “Zora wrote the multiverse before Marvel did.” No one argued.
Another gem: the “Eatonville Walking Tour.” Led by local historians, it explores the literal streets Hurston once walked. You’ll pass the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church where she may have heard sermons that later shaped her dialogue, and you’ll pause outside her childhood home site, now marked by a placard. The tour ends at the Moseley House Museum, a lovingly preserved home from 1888 that brings the town’s history alive in creaky floorboards and gospel echoes. Moseley House Google Map
Don’t miss the Heritage Panel at Eatonville Town Hall. It’s where older residents share stories that historians can’t footnote. One woman described Hurston borrowing a bicycle to get to her first interview with the WPA. Another recalled her grandmother hiding money in a Bible to help fund the church building. The past isn’t past here. It’s conversational.
For food, follow your nose. Local favorite Chef Eddie’s features fish and grits that could save your soul. His food truck often appears at ZORA! with crispy chicken wings and peach cobbler that tastes like someone’s Auntie loves you. Chef Eddie’s Yelp
Book lovers will find paradise at the Authors Pavilion. Independent Black publishers, self-published poets, children’s authors, and professors gather here like a family reunion. You can buy signed copies of novels, attend quick readings, and bump into your next favorite writer while grabbing a coconut water. It’s intimate, sincere, and full of discovery.
And if you’re lucky, you might catch Eatonville’s unofficial town poet, who only appears once per festival, usually near the fence line, reciting verses about being young, Black, and barefoot in the sugar sand. He doesn’t sell anything. He just talks. And people stay.
Why it matters
The ZORA! Festival isn’t just a celebration. It’s a declaration. It says that a small town founded by freedmen after the Civil War can shape global conversations on race, culture, art, and storytelling. It says that Florida is not just beaches and mouse ears, but a place where history lives loud and unfiltered. ZORA! reminds us that the truest version of a place is found in its stories. And Eatonville has been telling its story since 1887, with rhythm and wit and love.
Here’s what I’d do:
Arrive early on a Saturday. Bring a fold-out chair and park it near the main stage. I once sat there for five hours, listening to a jazz trio, two poets, a step team from Orlando, and a grandmother from Alabama who sang a cappella so beautifully the whole crowd froze. I ate a turkey leg the size of a canoe and watched kids play double-dutch under the shade of a magnolia tree. By sunset, I was sun-drunk, full, and a little better for it.
Getting There + Official Site
Eatonville is located just north of Orlando, easily accessible via I-4. Take the Maitland exit and follow signs to Kennedy Boulevard. During festival season, street parking fills fast, but shuttles and park-and-ride options are well marked.
ZORA! Festival Official Website
Where to Stay
- The Alfond Inn – Upscale boutique luxury in nearby Winter Park, with museum-caliber art and a courtyard that feels like a private oasis. Booking link
- Comfort Inn & Suites Orlando North – A reliable mid-range option with free breakfast and easy I-4 access. Booking link
- Homewood Suites by Hilton Orlando-Maitland – Great for families, with kitchenettes, space to stretch, and a pool to cool off in. Booking link
Where to Eat
- Chef Eddie’s – For smothered pork chops, fried okra, and the gospel brunch of your dreams. Yelp
- Shantell’s Just Until – A hole-in-the-wall with legendary shrimp and grits and a soul food playlist to match. Yelp
Conclusion
Eatonville doesn’t whisper its history. It sings it, dances it, and cooks it until the story sticks to your ribs. The ZORA! Festival is Florida with its mind wide open and its roots planted deep. If you listen closely, you can still hear Hurston’s voice in the trees: laughing, prodding, reminding us to claim joy and tell the truth.
