3. Juneteenth Food Festival (Weeksville Heritage Center) – June 18th at 12pm and June 19th at 7pm
On both Saturday June 18th and Sunday June 19th, the Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn will host 20 Black food vendors serving dishes from the African Diaspora, the Caribbean, Latin America, and parts of the United States. The festival will also offer a market of Black-owned goods and DJ and Soul performances. The Real Mothershuckers, the one and only oyster cart in Brooklyn inspired by the tradition of Black owned oyster cellars in the late 1800’s, will be among the vendors at the festival. The festival will take place at the Weeksville Heritage Center which emerged from one of the largest communities of African American Freedmen before the Civil War.
Weeksville was located in what is now Crown Heights in central Brooklyn. James Weeks, one of the original founders of the community, founded the town to create an economically and politically secluded space for Black Americans. This self-sufficiency fostered the ability for Black men to own land, and thus vote. Today, the Weeksville Heritage Center utilizes art, social justice, and education to engage with the history of Weeksville. The event is free and reservations are required.
