The Ella Fitzgerald Music Festival

The music festival focuses on the life of the “First Lady of Song,” Newport News native and jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald. A modern-day role model, Fitzgerald was born out of poverty in Newport News in 1917. Her home was just a couple of blocks away from what used to be an all-white high school. Today, it’s the Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center. The 276-seat theater inside bears her name.