'Favorite' Down Home Family Reunion is Saturday in Jackson Ward

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.

"We'll have satellite parking available at Carver Elementary School on Leigh Street and Maggie Walker High School on Lombardi Street with a shuttle that's going to be running throughout the day that will allow people to go back and forth through their car to their cars," Bell said.

Down Home Family Reunion is Saturday, Aug. 17 from 4 to 11 p.m. at Abner Clay Park in Historic Jackson Ward.

Lawn chairs are suggested and Bell said the event takes place rain or shine.

"As long as it's not a thunderstorm, we are out here," Bell said. "We're ready to have a great day, and we hope that you all will come out and have a great day with us, too."

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