Friday, May 31, 2002

WILMINGTON, NC – Baritone saxophonist Marvin “Doc” Holladay is among the featured performers for the 32nd annual Race Unity Day Festival scheduled for noon to 4 p.m., Saturday, June 8, on the Campus Commons of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. This free, non-alcohol event is open to the public; it is cosponsored by The Bahá'ís of Wilmington, YWCA and the UNCW Office of Campus Diversity.

The festival, which will feature live music and performing arts, is held each June to focus attention on what members of the Bahá'ís faith believe is the most challenging moral issue facing this country - racial prejudice. In addition to Holladay, other performances include the Community Boys and Girls Drum and Drill Team, 5678 Dance, the Love Center Church Praise Dancers and the Masonboro Arts Performers and more. There will be no lectures or preaching. Attendees are encouraged to dress casually and bring a blanket or chair.

Holladay is director of jazz and world music studies at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich. Internationally known for his strong, no-nonsense playing style, Holladay toured the world with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, J.C. Heard Orchestra and Dizzy Gillespie’s Orchestra. Other artists with whom Holladay performed or recorded include Billy Eckstine, Ella Fitzgerald and Herbie Hancock.