A new festival set to take place across the Lowcountry in early September is expected to draw 20,000 people to symposiums and concerts, according to the organizers.

Nowadays, there seems to be a festival for everything under the sun, said John Linton, founder of the Lowcountry Freedom Reigns Festival. Other than the Fourth of July, we rarely come together as a community to celebrate our freedoms, and its our hope that this festival will give us a reason to unite and celebrate our diversities.

Linton on Tuesday announced the creation of the festival, which will run Sept. 2 to 11, flanked by three honorary chairs: Charleston County Council Chairman Vic Rawl, Berkeley County Supervisor Bill Peagler and former Summerville Mayor Bill Collins, standing in for Dorchester County Council Chairman Jay Byars.

The festival will kick off Sept. 2 with family-day events at Charlestons Marion Square and Summervilles Azalea Park and end with the 9/11 Silent Walk, which is expected to draw 2,500 first responders from across the country to walk across the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge in full gear.

In between, there will be symposiums, concerts and other family events.

Quite frankly, the word freedom is utilized in this country a lot, Rawl said. However, the meaning is very, very seldom explained. Its important that we educate and celebrate the cultures and differences within our region, and I think thats the essence of what this is. Freedom is a nice word, its an important word, it epitomizes a great deal of what this country stands for, but to explain it in terms of cultural relationships, cultural backgrounds and the reality of what freedom means to us in the Lowcountry is important.

Freedom Reigns was started in 2005 as a Sept. 11 remembrance service at Pinewood Preparatory School in Summerville. The next year, the Summerville Orchestra was added to the program, which was held annually until 2015.

Speakers over the years have included Phil Lader; former U.S. ambassador to the Court of St. James; U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham; and Sheila Johnson, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television.

This years program will include more than 100 speakers on topics such as civil rights, the evolving role of women in society and What will America look like when the millennials govern? The symposiums are free.

The concerts include The Spirit of Motown, conducted by Charlton Singleton; a concert by Charleston Symphony violinist Alex Agrest, who came to America in pursuit of freedom; and separate Sept. 11 remembrance concerts by the Summerville Orchestra and the Charleston Symphony. Tickets for the concerts range from $30 to $50.

Proceeds from the festival will benefit local child abuse prevention charities and the Charleston Nine Memorial Park.

For more information or a calendar of events, go tofreedomreignsfestival.org.

Reach Brenda Rindge at 843-937-5713. Follow her on Twitter @brindge.

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New Lowcountry festival will include concerts and symposiums focusing on freedom, unity - Charleston Post Courier