The purpose of Halle-Bration is to provide a venue for people in the Greater Cincinnati area to have a family friendly event to enjoy the holidays and to purchase gifts and other items for the holidays. Given the difficulties that many families face going shopping and the risks that continue to increase in the shopping malls, New Vision United Methodist Church had the idea to bring the community together for a fun, safe and productive day of shopping and entertainment. 

The purpose of Halle-Bration expanded in 2016 to include service businesses in The Community Business Marketplace. This provides the community an opportunity to meet and establish connections with small and Black owned companies in the neighborhoods. These businesses were very successful in gaining new clients from the interaction. We expect this feature to increase our overall impact in the community by providing a much-needed networking venue. 

In 2016, we unveiled our branding of the event and partnered with two established organizations in the community, the African American Chamber of Commerce and The Collective Empowerment Group. We chose Halle-Bration, A Hallelujah Celebration to bring together the holiday festivities and the celebration of our communities. It is a way to bring the marketplace into the community for a day of festivities. Both of these organizations have a significant reach in the business and faith community and our participation increased significantly. Our branding will continue to make this event a household name and will help us to promote this more effectively. 

We expanded to two days in 2018 and added some workshops and live Jazz entertainment. This was successful and we intend to continue with this format. We also added a feature, Taste of Halle-Bration, where we showcased the best area bakers and food suppliers.