Organizers behind St. Paul’s annual Little Africa Festival say this year’s celebration will be the largest, spanning two days of special events.

For the past six years, African Economic Development Solutions of Minnesota has hosted a free, family-friendly lineup of art, music, food and dance at Hamline Park, Snelling and LaFond avenues.

New this year, the festival will tentatively include an “African Day Parade” along Snelling Avenue from 4:30 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 3, followed by a full-day line-up Aug. 4.

The effort seeks to help brand the community around Snelling and University avenues as a business and cultural district driven by the city’s growing African communities.

In 2015, a study published by an economist at Concordia University found that Minnesota’s African immigrants have a collective income of at least $1.6 billion, half of which is concentrated in the metro. That includes roughly $200 million in St. Paul and $300 million in Minneapolis alone.