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Now 34, Rivers said she has watched the weekend-long celebration of Gullah culture evolve from a local event into a regional festival that pulls in thousands of spectators from Beaufort and beyond.
Her own act has also grown: For the last three years, Rivers has performed with her husband and three of her five daughters, mixing African dance moves with drum performances.
"We just love coming to this festival," said Rivers, who grew up in New York and lives in Savannah. "Everyone looks forward to seeing each other. We've become like a family here."
The Gullah Festival ended Sunday amid cloudy skies and intermittent rain. Despite the bad weather and lower attendance Sunday, vice president Charlotte Brown said the festival was a success overall.
"This is the only time in 23 years we've ever had this kind of rain," Brown said. "But we're doing well, and I think it's gone very smoothly."
The Gullah Festival started in 1986 as a celebration and preservation of Gullah and African American culture. The festival aims to educate the public about the Gullah people -- who now primarily live in coastal South Carolina and Georgia -- through storytelling, workshops, arts and entertainment.
What started as a 35-person event blossomed into a festival attracting more than 50,000 people in recent years, Brown said. Weekend attendance numbers for this year weren't yet available, she said.
Along with entertainment, dozens of vendors selling everything from jewelry and clothing to artwork and small furniture pieces lined up outside the festival's pay gates throughout the weekend.
Sonya Noggins, a first-time Gullah Festival vendor from Virginia, said overall the crowd seemed thin, most likely due to the weather.
But Lynn Jones of Atlanta's African Butterfly, who was back for her fourth year, said that despite the rain, many people still visited the booths.
About 100 people sat inside the pay gates at the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront pavilion Sunday listening to the gospel rap act Truth Emrick of Columbia perform, followed by the Foundation Band of Beaufort, Ayoluwa African Dance Theatre and Inner Visions Reggae Band.
Among those braving bad weather forecasts were first-time Gullah Festival attendees Freddie Vines of Greenville, N.C., and Janice Floyd of Hillsborough, N.C.
Intrigued by the festival's uniqueness, Vines and Floyd said they made the weekend trip to Beaufort and have enjoyed every minute of it. They grabbed event flyers and said they plan to send them to friends and family before next year's event.
"A lot of people don't know about this festival," Vines said. "We will go back and spread the word."
