The Soul of the Southside Juneteenth Festival returns to the intersection of Minnehaha Avenue and East Lake Street in South Minneapolis on Thursday, starting at noon.
In addition to the many vendors and food trucks, Soul of the Southside works with businesses in the area such as Moon Palace Books, Solcana Fitness and Arbeiter Brewing, to provide activities from beginning to end for all ages.
Husband and wife, Emmanuel Duncan and Fancy Lanier-Duncan first held the festival on Juneteenth in 2022 to celebrate the launch of their creative space, The Legacy Building, located near the intersection of 46th St. and Minnehaha Avenue.
This year, it will be the event’s first time closing down 27th Ave in addition to Minnehaha Avenue, which was closed down for the first time during last year’s event.
With the support of the community, Soul of the Southside continued as an annual free-to-attend event celebrating Juneteenth, honoring Black creativity and freedom, according to their website. The two are listed as co-founders of the event on their website.
Lake Street Lifts and the Minneapolis Arts and Cultural Affairs Department also provide the festival with grants to help them put the event together.
Each year, the festival has a theme, and this year’s is “FAMILY: A REVOLUTIONARY FORCE.” Through art, music, storytelling and community, the festival hopes to emphasize “the power, resilience, and legacy of Black families as the foundation of our communities.”
Lanier-Duncan said the theme started to take form after sending surveys out to the community last year, asking what was important to them. Family was a common answer. People wanted a place in the community to celebrate that also felt like a place where they could bring their families.
Beyond the feedback, Lanier-Duncan said it became clear to her and the team that they should make the theme centered on family.
“Family is the center and the root for all of us,” she said. “Whether it’s chosen family or the one that you know, we’re born into, it’s the center for all of us.”
The festival has four pillars: music, art, commerce and wellness. Lanier-Duncan said that when planning the event, the team thought of ways to add to the event and make it more accessible to younger people.
One thing Lanier-Duncan is looking forward to this year is the community’s response, not only to the event itself, but to the intentionality behind the event.
“Will they see and feel the intentionality that this team of incredible creatives put together, you know, for the community?” she said.More information about Soul of the Southside can be found at their website.