Tinner Hill Music Festival Brings The Blues And Fun To Falls Church

FALLS CHURCH, VA — The Tinner Hill Music Festival returned to Falls Church on Saturday with blues, funk and reggae music, along with an artist village, children's face painting and plenty of food and craft beer options.

The smoke from the Canadian wildfires had cleared up enough to provide a pleasant environment for attendees to enjoy a day of music, fun and food in the city's Cherry Hill Park. The festival, held by the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation, also provided attendees opportunities to learn about social justice issues and honor the local African American legacy.

The festival attracted about 1,500 people, including a larger number of children and teenagers from previous years. The 2023 festival also had fewer people who had bought tickets beforehand not show up at the event, organizers said.

The Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation was founded by Edwin Henderson II in 1997 to preserve the early civil rights history of Falls Church and the nearby area.

Henderson’s grandfather, Dr. E.B. Henderson and grandmother, Mary Ellen Henderson, teamed up with Joseph Tinner and a small group of African Americans in 1918 to form the Colored Citizens Protective League in Falls Church, which transitioned into the first rural branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

At Saturday's Tinner Hill Music Festival, local restaurant Harvey’s, which opened last year on W. Broad Street, was making its first appearance at the festival. Other local restaurants selling food at the festival included Liberty Barbecue, Lazy Mike’s Delicatessen and baddpizza.