NEWSLETTER
Weeksville Heritage Center and Black-Owned Brooklyn present 29 Black chefs and eateries for their fourth annual celebration of culture and cuisine
Brooklyn, N.Y. - The Juneteenth Food Festival, Central Brooklyn’s annual celebration of Black food and culture, returns to the campus of Weeksville Heritage Center on Thursday, June 19, from 12-8 pm. A collaboration between Weeksville Heritage Center, a historic site and cultural institution, and the digital publication Black-Owned Brooklyn, the event will showcase a curated lineup of 29 local Black food businesses offering diverse and delicious culinary concepts.
Back for its fourth year, the festival also features legendary DJ and producer DJ Spinna, who will supply the day’s soundtrack alongside family-friendly cultural performances.
From its earliest celebrations in Texas, food has remained central to Juneteenth. The Juneteenth Food Festival honors these traditions — including barbecue, red drinks, seafood, cakes and ice cream — and brings them into a uniquely Brooklyn experience. While grounded in Black Southern cuisine, the event also reflects Brooklyn’s diasporic richness with dishes inspired by African American, Caribbean, Latin American and African foodways. Abundant vegan options are available as well.
The lineup of Black-owned businesses includes both acclaimed local establishments and emerging food brands:
MAINS: Black Nile • Virginia Smashburginia • Miss Holly's Smokehouse • Black Rican Vegan • Breukelen Rub • The Crabby Shack • 2 Girls & a Cookshop • Jase's BBQ • Coco Bred • Brooklyn Suya • Soul Bites • Picklejuice • Mac Shack • Lakou Cafe • Biscuits N Thangs • Lacey Burger • Angie's Delightful Bites • Sassy's Fishcakes • Makina Cafe
DESSERTS & BEVERAGES: Crème & Cocoa Creamery • Doc's Cake Shop • The Salty Heifer • Patsy's Rum Cake • Brownstone Cheesecakes • Island Pops • Brooklyn Tea • Hibiscus Brew • Happy Cork • Brooklyn Blend
The Juneteenth Food Festival unfolds at Historic Weeksville, the site of one of the largest free Black communities in the United States before the Civil War. Today, Weeksville Heritage Center is a living testament to Black self-determination and sovereignty — a powerful backdrop for Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery.
Black-Owned Brooklyn, an Instagram community and website dedicated to documenting and preserving local Black culture and history, thoughtfully curated the participating vendors and performers. Rounding out the festivities are BEM | books & more, a bookstore specializing in Black food literature; the Jazzy Jumpers, Brownsville’s champion double-dutch team; and the celebrated youth drumline and dance group, Brooklyn United.
"Weeksville has always been a site of Black freedom, entrepreneurship and community," said Raymond Codrington, president and CEO of Weeksville Heritage Center. "Hosting the Juneteenth Food Festival here creates a powerful throughline from the past to our present. We look forward to welcoming visitors back for another Juneteenth celebration that honors our ancestors and uplifts culture, rest and intergenerational joy.”
“In a moment when Black American history is increasingly contested or overlooked, this festival is both a celebration and an affirmation,” said Cynthia Gordy Giwa and Tayo Giwa, founders of Black-Owned Brooklyn. “We’re proud to bring the community together for Juneteenth to uplift the holiday while enjoying soul-nourishing food, one of our most resilient cultural expressions.”
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About Weeksville Heritage Center
Weeksville Heritage Center is a historic site and cultural center in Central Brooklyn that uses education, arts, and a social justice lens to preserve, document and inspire engagement with the history of Weeksville, one of the largest free Black communities in pre-Civil War America, and the Historic Hunterfly Road Houses. https://www.weeksvillesociety.
About Black-Owned Brooklyn
Black-Owned Brooklyn is an Instagram community and website dedicated to documenting and preserving local Black businesses, history and culture. Since 2018, founders Tayo Giwa and Cynthia Gordy Giwa have featured more than 500 businesses, institutions and cultural gatherings and directed two documentaries. https://www.instagram.com/
Media Contact:
Cynthia Gordy Giwa | team@blackownedbrooklyn.com, 917-703-1242