Twenty-two years after a small group of African Americans started the Kunta Kinte Heritage Festival in Annapolis, the annual event has been canceled.

Money problems led organizers to call off the 22nd annual Kunta Kinte Heritage Festival scheduled for Sept. 19, even though several grants had been awarded for the event and an invitation had been extended to President Barack Obama and his family.

The nonprofit organization that puts on the festival does not have enough cash on hand to launch the event at City Dock, so the group is planning a fundraiser instead on July 17.

"Being where we were last year, we...