Why I Created Save Philly Festivals: Preserving Our Living Archives Through Community Engagement

I am the daughter of educators, caretakers, and culture bearers who believed in the power of memory, meaning-making, and story. After losing both of my parents to Alzheimer’s, I became the unexpected steward of thousands of cultural artifacts they had collected. That grief became purpose, leading me to found the DiasporaDNA Story Center (DDSC)—a sanctuary for Black and global majority stories often excluded from institutional narratives. At DDSC, we preserve and activate my family’s Montgomery Collection, an archive of over 10,000 diasporic artifacts. We embed ancestral veneration and joyful belonging into everything we do through “Archives & Vibes” gatherings, our Ancestry & Kinkeeping program, and spaces designed with altars, living room aesthetics, and artist studio energy that welcome people as archivists, artists, storytellers, and curators.

This commitment to Healing Through Heritage and honoring cultural brilliance is why I created Save Philly Festivals. Through DiasporaDNA Story Center, we launched the initiative to address the growing loss of cultural memory, neighborhood traditions, and community-based festivals across Philadelphia. Many local night markets and festivals—especially those led by Black, Brown, Asian, Queer, Immigrant, and historically under-resourced communities—face increasing challenges including rising operational costs, limited sponsorship, permit and security barriers, volunteer burnout, and lack of consistent participation and support. As a result, many culturally significant events are at risk of shrinking, disappearing, or being forgotten altogether.

Festivals are more than entertainment. They are living archives of hidden histories, public memory, civic identity, and local joy. They create spaces where communities gather across generations to share music, food, storytelling, dance, spirituality, language, and cultural traditions. They also support local economies by creating opportunities for small businesses, artists, performers, food vendors, and cultural workers. Without intentional investment and preservation, many of these community-rooted traditions risk being excluded from the public narrative of the city, especially during America’s 250th celebration this year.

At the same time, DDSC saw a major opportunity to strengthen and document Philadelphia’s cultural ecosystem ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary and the city’s growing focus on cultural tourism and civic storytelling. Save Philly Festivals was created to ensure that community voices, neighborhood histories, and grassroots cultural traditions are represented and preserved during this historic period.

I chose community engagement as the core approach because real partnerships and authentic stories cannot be imposed from the outside—they must be co-created with the people who live them. Top-down solutions often miss the nuance, the joy, and the resistance embedded in our gatherings. By centering listening, relationship-building, and shared stewardship, we build trust, amplify what already exists, and ensure our work reflects the brilliance of the communities we serve. This participatory ethos—Everyone Is An Archivist/Artist/Storyteller/Curator—turns preservation into a collective act of healing and belonging.

Through Save Philly Festivals, DDSC uses storytelling, archives, youth engagement, public programming, and community convenings to support festival producers and increase public awareness about the importance of cultural festivals. The initiative includes Think Tank discussions with festival organizers and cultural leaders, youth-centered storytelling and content creation programs, oral history collection, digital archives, community mapping, and public-facing cultural experiences such as the Philly Festivals Bus Tour (our Joy Ride model).

We are also addressing the lack of accessible documentation surrounding Philadelphia’s diverse cultural traditions. Many festival histories exist only through personal memories, photographs, flyers, and word-of-mouth storytelling. By collecting and preserving these stories through community-engaged methods—bus tours that bring people into the heart of festival sites for live sharing, interactive festival story maps that invite public contributions, and oral history circles that honor lived experience—DDSC is helping communities protect their histories while building stronger intergenerational connections.

My doctoral and field-building work with Save Philly Festivals extends the mission of DiasporaDNA: to treat festivals as vital civic and cultural infrastructure. We encourage everyone to See. Support. Save Philly Festivals™—to witness the depth of our traditions, actively back the organizers and makers sustaining them, and join the movement to protect these spaces of joy and resistance. Whether through partnerships with faith-based organizations, the Philly Childcare Collective, youth content creators clubs, or advocacy for better policies (including my nomination preparations for the Philadelphia Parks & Recreation Commission), every step is grounded in listening first and acting together.

Ultimately, Save Philly Festivals seeks to strengthen cultural sustainability, community connection, and public recognition of festivals as essential civic and cultural infrastructure. DDSC’s work ensures that the stories, traditions, and contributions of Philadelphia’s diverse communities are not only celebrated in the present, but preserved for future generations.

This is more than a campaign—it is an invitation. If you carry memories of a neighborhood block party, a cultural night market, or a family tradition that deserves to live on, I invite you to share your story. Join a bus tour. Participate in a Think Tank. Support a local festival vendor. Become part of the living archive.

Together, through community engagement, storytelling, and committed partnerships, we can ensure Philadelphia’s cultural heartbeat continues to pulse strongly. See. Support. Save Philly Festivals™—because our festivals are evidence of who we are, and preserving them is how we carry our ancestors’ brilliance forward.

Monica O. Montgomery, MA
Founder & President, DiasporaDNA Story Center  
Steward, Montgomery Collection  
Culture Worker, Public Memory Practitioner