GhanaFest is a festival that is not celebrated in Ghana but in Chicago by the Ghanaian community. It begun 1989 and currently is celebrated yearly in the month of July to celebrate Ghanaian culture as well as experience the unity among Ghanaians and other Africans in Chicago. Homowo was celebrated in 1987 by the Ghana-Chicago Club (GCC) together with the Ga and Ga-Dangme communities in Chicago.

The celebration received encouraging patronage from the Ghanaian communities. This inspired the organizers to apply for sponsorship from the to make this celebration an annual event. They therefore applied to the city of Chicago’s neighborhood festivals program for funding and support. Their request was granted and the following year they were supported with tents, stages, drinks, toilets, space and funding.

In 1989 the sponsored Homowo celebrations was merged with the celebration of Odwira. The occasion was therefore nicknamed “Homowo-Odwira Festival”. A year later the Ghanaian organizations in Chicago under the auspices of the GNC decided to make it a celebration for Ghanaian festivals to attract more patronage for all interested parties. So in 1990 the GhanaFest was fully launched in Chicago with support from the city of Chicago.