The Mary Parker Foundation presents
A Juneteenth festival for the elders who built us, the families who carry us, and the future we’re cooking up together.
The Festival
“We don’t wait for history to remember our people. We feed them, we play their music, we call their names — out loud, today.”
— Mary Parker, Founder
The Southwest Atlanta Homecoming is a one-day Juneteenth festival built around three simple ideas: feed people, lift the elders, and let the music run long. It’s outside, and it’s ours. Pull up a chair. Bring your auntie. Stay till the streetlights come on.
Across the grounds you’ll find a backyard BBQ competition, a stage rotating gospel, soul, and brass, a homecoming honors ceremony for three community pillars, plus a kids zone, vendor village, and a quiet tent for storytelling and oral history.
June 19 · Doors Open 10AM
10:00 AM – 8:30 PM · The Soufside Family Reunion
Class of 2026
Three lives that shaped a city. Three stories that shape the next one.
The Foundation
She registered over 100,000 Black voters in Atlanta — before the Voter Education Project — while the Ku Klux Klan marched across the street. 46 years at Atlanta Life Insurance Company. She helped elect Maynard Jackson. She built the art exhibition that became the National Black Arts Festival. The foundation everything else was built on.
The Transition
She lived out of her car. Then she became the first African American in Georgia history to serve as executive counsel to a governor. Then a judge. Then a federal civil rights official. Now she's running for Georgia Secretary of State — to protect the same votes Henrietta fought to register.
The Future
Iraq veteran. Disabled. Managing PTSD and sarcoidosis. On May 20, 2026, he waded waist-deep into floodwaters on the Downtown Connector and carried a stranger to safety on his back. 1.1 million people watched. He said: 'You're obligated to help somebody.' Southwest Atlanta agrees.
Tickets & Info
Reserve Your Spot
Free with RSVP. Reserve your spot so we can count the chairs.
Reserve on KNMI Events