RICHMOND, Va. — The Down Home Family Reunion, a festival celebrating African American Folklore, returns to Richmond’s historic Jackson Ward neighborhood Saturday.
A mother-and-daughter team with the Elegba Folklore Society, which also produces the Juneteenth Freedom Celebration and Capital City Kwanzaa Festival, are the forces behind the popular event.
“This is my favorite festival that we produce,” Imani Bell, who grew up in Jackson Ward, said. “The Down Home Family reunion, a celebration of African American Folk Life, was made and created to blend West African culture with African American culture to show that we are interconnected, that only the water separates us.”
Bell is producing the 33rd annual Down Home Family Reunion with her mother Janine Bell. Attendees can see old friends and make new ones at Saturday’s free festival. It features incredible food, a marketplace, a children’s corner and back-to-back music and entertainment.
And parking is easier this year, according to Bell.