Juneteenth Thursday
June 19 — It’s the official Juneteenth holiday, which means post offices, banks, and the stock market are closed. Programs and events to mark the end of slavery in the U.S. are happening around Atlanta today, so check out our guide, and we have some Juneteenth dining traditions below.
🌩️ A chance of afternoon thunderstorms and 85° today.
⚖️ Federal officials unsealed an indictment charging that former Fulton County Jail Sgt. Khadijah Solomon used excessive force against pretrial detainees and wrote false reports about the incidents.
🚨 Independent journalist Mario Guevara, arrested Saturday covering the “No Kings” rallies in DeKalb County, is now in the custody of ICE and facing deportation.
💰 Atlanta Beltline Inc. approved a $242 million budget for 2026 with a focus on having 18 miles of trail completed by the FIFA World Cup next summer.
📚 The Decatur Book Festival will celebrate its 20th anniversary Oct. 3-4 with keynote speaker Saeed Jones and “kidnote” speaker Angie Thomas.
🚲 The Sandy Springs Conservancy will host a celebration on Saturday for the opening of the first section of the Springway Trail.
⚕️ The Brookhaven Chamber of Commerce said CEO Alan Goodman will step down from his role, “due to ongoing health challenges.”
ELSEWHERE
🇮🇱🇮🇷 A hospital in Southern Israel and several residential buildings near Tel Aviv were hit by Iranian missiles today. When asked whether the U.S. might join Israel in striking Iran, President Trump said, “Nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
➡ The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
💸 The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, forecasting a surge in inflation.
🏀 The Los Angeles Lakers will be sold for a record $10 billion.
🕖 Here’s what’s in today’s newsletter:
• Summer at Oakland Cemetery
• Collab Capital
• Juneteenth dining
AND
• Quick Bites
☀️ Sometimes the best summer moments are the quiet ones – rocking on a porch swing, listening to the water lap against the dock, or feeling the warmth of the sun on your face with nowhere to be. At Lake Oconee, relaxation isn’t just encouraged – it’s part of the lifestyle. Find your reason to linger longer this summer at Lake Oconee. SPONSOR MESSAGE
1. Oakland Cemetery’s summer programming
🪦 With its plethora of summer programming for kids and adults alike, Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery is so much more than just a final resting place.
Each week of Oakland’s summer camp for kids is built around a unique theme, like gardening and cooking, machine science, or outdoor art. These themes are meant to represent Oakland’s identity as a historical site, green space, and more.
For the grown-ups, there’s a slate of events including Malts & Vaults and special programs on Atlanta’s baseball history and “Gone With the Wind” author Margaret Mitchell.
Rewind & Relax: A nostalgic summer vacation at Lake Oconee
SPONSORED BY VISIT LAKE OCONEE
☀️ Whether you’re craving the simple pleasures of berry-picking and dock jumping or hoping to share the magic of a “good old days” summer with your kids or grandkids, Lake Oconee offers the perfect backdrop for making memories – old and new.
🏕️ There’s something magical about summer, especially through the eyes of a child – think cannonballs into the lake, windows-down road trips, and chasing fireflies after dark.
📍In Georgia’s Greene County, just 75 miles from Atlanta, those timeless summer moments are still alive. Find your reason to linger longer this summer at Lake Oconee.
2. Collab Capital looks to back founders solving real-world problems
💰 Collab Capital, Atlanta’s early-stage venture capital firm run by managing partners Jewel Burks Solomon and Barry Givens (pictured), officially closed its second fund this week with $75 million in committed capital.
The firm had raised its first $50 million fund in 2021, which invested in Southeast-based firms like Goodr, Boxed Up, FilmHedge, Hairbrella, Healthy Hip Hop, and UScope Technologies.
Collab has already written checks into six startups from the new fund, including Massachusetts-based EV charging company SparkCharge, Minneapolis-based telehealth platform River Health, and San Francisco-based AI and mobile app startup A0.
➡ Read the whole story from Hypepotamus here.
3. The celebratory food traditions of Juneteenth
🍷 One of the most prominent ways people celebrate Juneteenth is through food. Juneteenth festivities typically incorporate red foods and usually offer red drinks and cocktails.
“Red drinks connect Black people across the globe, from West Africa to Egypt, to Negril, Jamaica, to Brooklyn, to Texas, to Atlanta,” said Nicole A. Taylor, a James Beard-nominated food writer and cookbook author, whose most recent book, “Watermelon & Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations,” published in 2022. It’s also the first and only cookbook dedicated to Juneteenth.
“[Whenever] there is a celebration, you’re going to find red soda pop, hibiscus, or sorrel,” Taylor added.
➡ Read more of Sarra Sedghi’s story here.
☀️ Sometimes the best summer moments are the quiet ones – rocking on a porch swing, listening to the water lap against the dock, or feeling the warmth of the sun on your face with nowhere to be. At Lake Oconee, relaxation isn’t just encouraged – it’s part of the lifestyle. Find your reason to linger longer this summer at Lake Oconee. SPONSOR MESSAGE
4. Quick Bites
VIA SIDE DISH, A WEEKLY NEWSLETTER| SUBSCRIBE HERE
😋 For this week’s Quick Bites, Rough Draft dining editor Beth McKibben has details on the closure of Mellow Mushroom in Decatur and the opening of Wa’haka in Dunwoody. Plus, learn where to watch and celebrate How Crispy’s debut on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” this Friday in Summerhill (there may be a Guy Fieri look-alike contest).
➡ Here’s the full roundup of this week’s dining news from Beth.
☀️ Sometimes the best summer moments are the quiet ones – rocking on a porch swing, listening to the water lap against the dock, or feeling the warmth of the sun on your face with nowhere to be. At Lake Oconee, relaxation isn’t just encouraged – it’s part of the lifestyle. Find your reason to linger longer this summer at Lake Oconee.
SPONSOR MESSAGE
🔤 Don’t miss News Word Atlanta, our new, daily word game – Presented by Oglethorpe University, Atlanta’s premier undergraduate learning experience.
