With several pickup basketball tournaments, a selection of delectable grilled dishes and a large crowd of visitors expected, the celebration taking place this Saturday at Dowagiac’s Walter Ward Park is looking like a heck of way to spend a weekend afternoon.

The Black Family Celebration returns to the city this weekend for the second time since its revival last summer. The festivities began at 10 a.m. at the park on Thickstun Street, running until 9 p.m.

Once again organizing this year’s celebration is Paul Williams, who brought the event back from its eight-year hiatus last August. Williams was one of people responsible for bringing the annual get-together in 1990, after former Cass County Commissioner Minnie Warren suggested the idea to organizers after visiting a similar event in Philadelphia.

“The idea was to have a great neighborhood picnic, to show solidarity and celebrate family,” Williams said.

Over the next 15 years, the celebration grew from an initial crowd of around 400 to nearly 2,000 people at its peak, Williams said. The celebration drew in people from around the Michiana community, with many families and friends hosting reunions during the celebration.

“There were times when I got up to the podium to speak, and I could barely see the ground, there were that many people at the park,” he said.

In 2005, Williams had stopped running the event due family commitments, he said. However, he brought it back last year in order to have new generation of area children take part in the celebration, he said. Between 600 and 700 visitors were present at last year’s event, Williams said.

“There was huge excitement in the community last year, as many of them had never been to something like this without traveling outside of town,” he said.

Each Black Family Celebration has a theme to go along with the festivities, with this year’s message being “How do we build our families, to strengthen our community.”

In addition to the potluck dinner, which begins at 4 p.m., the celebration will have activities for people to enjoy throughout the day, including lawn games such as beanbag toss and horseshoes.

The highlight of the day will be the basketball tournament, with around six semipro teams expected to compete, including ones from Dowagiac, Elkhart, South Bend and Kalamazoo, Williams said. There will also be pickup games for youth teams as well, with four teams signed up in the two age divisions.

Admission to the event is free, and is open to the public.

“Come down and have a great time,” Williams said. “You might get to see people you haven’t seen in a long time.”