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When Dolly Johnson was 37, President Benjamin Harrison hired her to be the White House’s first Black chef. She cooked for four presidents, before returning to her home in Lexington, Kentucky, and starting several successful restaurants.

For the fourth year, the Juneteenth Foodways Festival will honor Johnson’s culinary and historical legacy June 13 at the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, 1230 N. Delaware St. Freetown Village historical interpreters will tell Johnson’s story on stage, and there will be food demos and a DJ.

The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site is looking for Black-owned businesses to be vendors at the event. Restaurant and food truck owners, artists, caterers and retailers can apply online until Feb. 28 to be a part of this year’s festival. At last year’s festival, there were 35 vendors and over 2,000 people attended.

As part of your application, include 4-5 moderately-priced menu items. Festival organizers are looking for small portions, so visitors get a chance to try food from more than one vendor. Businesses that are selected will get an email by April 14. If your business is selected, you have to bring your own payment system, and you will get all of the proceeds from the day.

If you have questions, email Tamara Harris, special events coordinator at tharris@bhpsite.org.

Note: Mirror Indy is a Juneteenth Foodways Festival media partner.

Mirror Indy reporter Sophie Young covers services and resources. Contact her at sophie.young@mirrorindy.org.

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The Juneteenth Foodways Festival is looking for Black-owned vendors 

by Sophie Young, Mirror Indy
February 21, 2025

<h1>The Juneteenth Foodways Festival is looking for Black-owned vendors </h1> <p class="byline">by Sophie Young, Mirror Indy <br />February 21, 2025</p> <p>When <a href="https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/1447" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dolly Johnson</a> was 37, President Benjamin Harrison hired her to be the White House’s first Black chef. She cooked for four presidents, before returning to her home in Lexington, Kentucky, and starting several successful restaurants.</p> <p>For the fourth year, the Juneteenth Foodways Festival will honor Johnson’s culinary and historical legacy June 13 at the <a href="https://bhpsite.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site</a>, 1230 N. Delaware St. Freetown Village historical interpreters will tell Johnson’s story on stage, and there will be food demos and a DJ.</p> <p>The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site is looking for Black-owned businesses to be vendors at the event. Restaurant and food truck owners, artists, caterers and retailers <a href="https://bhpsite.org/events/juneteenthpartner/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">can apply online until Feb. 28</a> to be a part of this year’s festival. At last year’s festival, there were 35 vendors and over 2,000 people attended.</p> <p>As part of your application, include 4-5 moderately-priced menu items. Festival organizers are looking for small portions, so visitors get a chance to try food from more than one vendor. Businesses that are selected will get an email by April 14. If your business is selected, you have to bring your own payment system, and you will get all of the proceeds from the day.</p> <p>If you have questions, email Tamara Harris, special events coordinator at <a href="mailto:tharris@bhpsite.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tharris@bhpsite.org</a>.</p> <p><em>Note: Mirror Indy is a Juneteenth Foodways Festival media partner.</em></p> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://mirrorindy.org/juneteenth-foodways-festival-black-owned-businesses-benjamin-harrison/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://mirrorindy.org&quot;&gt;Mirror Indy&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/cropped-Mirror-Indy-square-logo-1.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;</p> &lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://mirrorindy.org/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=46120&amp;amp;ga4=G-X0R0QW371R&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://mirrorindy.org/juneteenth-foodways-festival-black-owned-businesses-benjamin-harrison/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/mirrorindy.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;

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