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ODUNDE Festival
The ODUNDE Festival, the largest Black and African cultural festival in the country, celebrates its 50th year in 2025.
The vibrant Sunday streetfest, founded in 1975, brings a genuine taste of Africa to a 15-block area of Graduate Hospital, one of Philadelphia’s oldest historically Black neighborhoods.
The event is packed with over 100 vendors and thousands upon thousands of visitors gathered from around the world, along with internationally recognized African and Caribbean performers, folk artists, VIPs and other cultural leaders.
The massive festival is the culmination of a week of ODUNDE events across the city, including parties, panels, lectures, music, wellness events and educational opportunities.
ODUNDE’s seven days of golden anniversary programming runs from June 1 to 7, 2025, with the ODUNDE Street Festival set to take place on Sunday, June 8, 2025 down Grays Ferry Avenue and along South Street.
Every year, the ODUNDE Festival — inspired by Yoruba pilgrimages to Nigeria and named after the Yoruba word meaning “the celebration has arrived” in honor of the new year on the Kọ́jọ́dá calendar — features seven days of educational programs and community events, all leading up to the joyous street festival drawing vendors from across Africa, the Caribbean and United States.
— Photo courtesy ODUNDE Festival
The 50th anniversary week culminates with North America’s largest Black and African cultural street festival on Sunday, June 8, 2025, filling 16 South Philly blocks with over 500,000 attendees enjoying more than 100 marketplace vendors, two stages of live performances and tons of authentic African, Caribbean and soul food.
The blockbuster second Sunday ODUNDE Street Festival and market fills the streets of South Philadelphia’s Graduate Hospital neighborhood with scores of vendors and hundreds of thousands of festivalgoers on the afternoon of Sunday, June 8, 2025.
Stretching 15 blocks from Greys Ferry Avenue & Catherine Street to 19th & South streets — centered on the intersection of 23rd and South streets — the open-air party is free to attend, with pay-as-you-go food, refreshments and merch.
The day begins at noon with a colorful procession starting at 23rd & South streets which proceeds to the Schuylkill River where participants present traditional offerings of fruit and flowers to Oshun, the Yoruba goddess of the river.
The festivities continue the rest of the day with a packed schedule of live music and dance performances on two designated stages (at Greys Ferry Avenue & Catherine Street and at 23rd & South streets) and over a hundred vendors selling handmade crafts, clothing, jewelry and more. Beyond local vendors, the festival’s African marketplace promises authentic items from Africa, the Caribbean, Brazil and beyond.
— Photo by S. Ramones for Visit Philadelphia
Food is a huge attraction at the ODUNDE Festival, with a variety of purveyors serving authentic African, Caribbean, Brazilian and soul food.
The day ends with must-see performances from ‘80s and early ‘90s hip hop legends Doug E. Fresh (at 5:30 p.m.) and Rakim (at 7 p.m.) on the main South Street stage.
Over the week leading up to the main event, ODUNDE hosts a variety of programs, including wellness activities, happy hours, luncheons, panel discussions featuring leading Black voices in entrepreneurship and business and more.
Events from June 1 to 7, 2025 include:
ODUNDE365 Yoga Class
Grab your mat and head to one of Philly’s most iconic green spaces as ODUNDE365 presents an open-air yoga class at LOVE Park (Sunday, June 1, 2025, 10 to 11 a.m.).
Convo with the CEO: Radio Trailblazers Edition
Join ODUNDE CEO Oshunbumi Fernandez-West at Avana Restaurant on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for an inspirational conversation with Philly broadcast pioneers and veteran radio personalities Patty Jackson, Lady B (Wendy Clark) and Mimi Brown. Tickets are priced at $25 and are available here (Monday, June 2, 2025, 5:30 to 8 p.m.).
Afro Beats & Vibes
Join an unforgettable evening of music, culture, community and African heritage and unity at The Wine Garden at the Navy Yard featuring vibrant Afrobeat rhythms, joyful energy and a rich cultural experience. Tickets, which include a complimentary drink and light refreshments, are priced at $25 and are available here (Wednesday, June 4, 2025, 5 to 8 p.m.).
I Am B.U.M.I. Love Me, Some Me
The return of the festival’s signature Beautiful, Unique, Magnificent Individual wellness event promotes self-love, empowerment and holistic well-being, particularly among women and girls in the African American community (Saturday, June 7, 2025).
Lois’ Lunches
Support small businesses and honor the initiative’s founder Lois Fernandez with an hour of complimentary eats at Brewerytown’s All Day Hoagies on West Girard Avenue. Receive a food ticket upon arrival, available while supplies last (Saturday, June 7, 2025, noon to 1 p.m.).
Check out the official website for details and the full lineup of ODUNDE week programming.
The ODUNDE Street Festival on Sunday, June 8, 2025, draws major crowds of nearly half a million each year. On festival day, several local streets are closed and street parking along roads near South Street and around the Graduate Hospital neighborhood is tight.
Luckily, you’ve got a choice of transportation options.
SEPTA’s number 7, 12, 17 and 40 public transit bus lines all offer stops near the festival area. Additionally, the Broad Street Line (newly renamed as the orange B-Line) subway’s stop at Lombard-South drops you just a short walk from the action.
Or take advantage of Philly’s Indego bike share program, with plenty of nearby docking stations, including ones as close to the festivities as 19th & Lombard streets, 23rd & South streets and Grays Ferry Ave & Pemberton Street.
ODUNDE is the creation of its South Philadelphia founder, former social worker Lois Fernandez, who launched the festival in 1975 after visiting similar events in Africa.
The concept originates from the Yoruba people of Nigeria, West Africa, and celebrates the coming of another year for African Americans and Africanized people around the world. The event is recognized globally as one of the original models for African American festivals.
ODUNDE, Inc. is an educational and cultural organization that sponsors year-round programs celebrating the African diaspora. Along with the annual ODUNDE Festival (the organization’s staple event), ODUNDE hosts ODUNDE365, a series of year-round African and African American cultural and wellness programming including African dance & drumming classes, entrepreneurship programs, yoga, dance, fashion, karate, fitness, videography and more at schools, public green spaces and other venues. Funds raised from the Festival go toward funding ODUNDE365.
For more information on the festival, click below.
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