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Freaknik
Freaknik (/ˈfriːknɪk/; originally Freaknic) was an annual spring break festival in Atlanta, Georgia. It was initially attended by students enrolled at historically black colleges and universities in the Atlanta University Center. It began in 1983 as a small picnic in a public park near the Atlanta University Center sponsored by the D.C. Metro Club for students who could not afford to return home for spring break. It continued as an annual event held during the third weekend in April. The event drastically increased in size and popularity in the 1990s, incorporating dance contests, concerts, parties, a basketball tournament, rap sessions, a film festival and a job fair.
The Atlanta magazine called it Atlanta's most infamous street party. By 1999, Atlanta area police and elected officials were working together to end Freaknik. A revamped version returned for one day on June 22, 2019, as "FreakNik Atlanta '19 - The Festival" with a concert at Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood.
Originally "Freaknic", the name of the event is a portmanteau of "picnic" and "freak", in accordance with the D.C. Metro Club's 1982–1983 theme "The Return of the Freak".
Freaknik was conceived in March 1982 on Spelman College campus in a DC Metro Club meeting headed by then president Schuyla Goodson. It was sponsored by the club, which was composed of students from Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. The DC Metro Club intended for it to be challenge to the California Club for the largest end-of-the-school-year party. Goodson suggested the name Freaknik (then spelled "Freaknic") as a portmanteau of freaky and picnic.
The name Freaknik was inspired by Le Freak by Chic, a popular song and dance from 1978. First held in John A. White Park in Atlanta in April 1982, it was attended by at most 150 students.
In 1988, Spelman College President Johnnetta B. Cole banned the DC Metro Club from involvement with Freaknic for school liability reasons. With no chartered collegiate student organization presiding over the event, independent national promoter Daryl Miller was asked by the DC Metro Club to promote it. He grew the event from 15,000 to over 250,000 in five years with no radio nor television ads.
Several other promoters began promoting non-official Freakni(k) named events. One such event happened at the then 33-acre Lakewood Fairgrounds and had 60,000 people in attendance. In 1993, two non-HBCU students, party promoters Ronn Greene and Diya Nabawi, were the first to trademark the name, spelled officially as "Freaknik" (ending with a "k"). Another was held at Club XS off Moreland Ave. This event was promoted by a group of Omega Psi Phi fraternity members. It had an estimated 30,000 people in the parking lot and another 60,000 that cruised the Moreland all night.
In 1991, Kristina Copeland, a woman from Washington, D.C., and Ronn Greene, produced the second event, held at the Lakewood Fairgrounds. As the event became more popular in mainstream Black culture, more Black visitors from all regions of the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Europe came to participate in it. Some of these visitors decided to make the Atlanta area their new permanent home. At its peak in the mid-1990s, the event attracted well over 250,000 people each year. Also the event was a major economic stimulus for the Atlanta area. It is estimated by 1994 the economic impact reached $20 million.
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Freaknik
Freaknik (/ˈfriːknɪk/; originally Freaknic) was an annual spring break festival in Atlanta, Georgia. It was initially attended by students enrolled at historically black colleges and universities in the Atlanta University Center. It began in 1983 as a small picnic in a public park near the Atlanta University Center sponsored by the D.C. Metro Club for students who could not afford to return home for spring break. It continued as an annual event held during the third weekend in April. The event drastically increased in size and popularity in the 1990s, incorporating dance contests, concerts, parties, a basketball tournament, rap sessions, a film festival and a job fair.
The Atlanta magazine called it Atlanta's most infamous street party. By 1999, Atlanta area police and elected officials were working together to end Freaknik. A revamped version returned for one day on June 22, 2019, as "FreakNik Atlanta '19 - The Festival" with a concert at Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood.
Originally "Freaknic", the name of the event is a portmanteau of "picnic" and "freak", in accordance with the D.C. Metro Club's 1982–1983 theme "The Return of the Freak".
Freaknik was conceived in March 1982 on Spelman College campus in a DC Metro Club meeting headed by then president Schuyla Goodson. It was sponsored by the club, which was composed of students from Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. The DC Metro Club intended for it to be challenge to the California Club for the largest end-of-the-school-year party. Goodson suggested the name Freaknik (then spelled "Freaknic") as a portmanteau of freaky and picnic.
The name Freaknik was inspired by Le Freak by Chic, a popular song and dance from 1978. First held in John A. White Park in Atlanta in April 1982, it was attended by at most 150 students.
In 1988, Spelman College President Johnnetta B. Cole banned the DC Metro Club from involvement with Freaknic for school liability reasons. With no chartered collegiate student organization presiding over the event, independent national promoter Daryl Miller was asked by the DC Metro Club to promote it. He grew the event from 15,000 to over 250,000 in five years with no radio nor television ads.
Several other promoters began promoting non-official Freakni(k) named events. One such event happened at the then 33-acre Lakewood Fairgrounds and had 60,000 people in attendance. In 1993, two non-HBCU students, party promoters Ronn Greene and Diya Nabawi, were the first to trademark the name, spelled officially as "Freaknik" (ending with a "k"). Another was held at Club XS off Moreland Ave. This event was promoted by a group of Omega Psi Phi fraternity members. It had an estimated 30,000 people in the parking lot and another 60,000 that cruised the Moreland all night.
In 1991, Kristina Copeland, a woman from Washington, D.C., and Ronn Greene, produced the second event, held at the Lakewood Fairgrounds. As the event became more popular in mainstream Black culture, more Black visitors from all regions of the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Europe came to participate in it. Some of these visitors decided to make the Atlanta area their new permanent home. At its peak in the mid-1990s, the event attracted well over 250,000 people each year. Also the event was a major economic stimulus for the Atlanta area. It is estimated by 1994 the economic impact reached $20 million.