Jane Wilburn Sapp, founder of the annual Black Belt Folk Roots Festival in 1975, was in attendance, with her son Edward and his family, for the 50th Festival Celebration held in Eutaw, AL, August 23 and 24, 2025. She is accompanied on stage by Dr. Carol P. Zippert, who has continued the festival celebration since 1982. Dr. Zippert presented Ms. Sapp with a specially designed throw and pillow bearing the festival’s 50th year emblem and photos of her and her late husband Hubert Sapp at an earlier festival. The gifts were created by artist Fatima Robinson.
Attorney Faya Rose Toure presented Ms. Sapp with a carved leaf symbolizing the festival’s beginning; Attorney Toure then presented Dr. Zippert with a carved tree symbolizing the growth and continuation of the annual Black Belt Folk Roots Festival.