Juneteenth Food Festival

The Juneteenth Food Festival, Central Brooklyn’s annual celebration of Black food and culture is 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 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.