C-U Days is organized by the Champaign Park District, and was held at Douglass Park this past weekend. Hundreds of families came out to enjoy the festival, complete with a basketball tournament, school physicals, local business booths, food trucks, face painting and a concert. People seemed to really enjoy all of the activities and the company of one another.
Nurse practitioner Patricia Murdoch (middle) leads a team of medical students from Avicenna Community Health Center and Hermes clinic to provide nearly 40 school physicals for children during the event.
The start of a youth basketball game.
All ball!
Spectators.
Beautiful face painting.
I met Haybert Burnett, owner and operator of Soouljah, a clothing shop located near the corner of Bradley and Mattis Avenue. As I was taking photos of his booth he called out, “Hey man, what are you doing? You can’t just take photos of my booth like that. Delete those!” I started to apologize and he smiled real big, “I’m just playing with you, man. Come here and take a photo with me. Diversity at it’s finest!”
Local hip hop artists, Gooch Bag, took the stage and rapped about being a success through meaningful ways, putting down drugs and violence in their song.
The kids had fun on the blow-up playground and mechanical bull.
There were three food trucks with long lines. I knew about the Hawaiian shaved ice truck and the BBQ truck but Mae’s Mobile Munch I had never even heard of. I hope to see it again sometime because their menu looked interesting. Check it out below.
Below, Mae’s Mobile Munch.
Mae’s menu included fried pies and kool-aid pickles.
Food trucks weren’t the only ones cooking it up. There were probably 10-12 different families, big families, picnicking in the park with large grills like this one, below, cooking BBQ, corn and more. I was really impressed by how large the groups were.
Below, one family’s tent.
Smile Healthy, below, a local dentistry group, was there giving out toothbrushes, tooth paste, and information about their services.
First Followers, below, is a group dedicated to helping previously incarcerated individuals and their family members get back to life outside of prison. They also help people with felonies get jobs. They can be contacted at firstfollowerscu@gmail.com.
C-U Days is one of the most well attended festivals I’ve ever been to in Champaign.
“C-U” next year!