Although new to Atlanta, the MACGCF (Metro-Atlanta Collard Greens Cultural Festival) has roots in East Palo Alto, California.  Festival founder, Dr. Mama Nobantu Ankoanda, began the event in 1998 as a way to raise funds for the Shule Mandela Academy. Today, it is highly anticipated by the thousands who ​attend and has been emulated by communities in Philadelphia, PA, and soon to be in communities such as Chicago, IL and Fort Worth, TX . Mama Nobantu, as she is fondly known, now claims Atlanta as home, and has been approached for several years to start one in Georgia. As a result, the festival has been hosted by three different communities within Metro-Atlanta...the Shrine of the Black Madonna, Vine City Opportunity Program, Inc. and the City of Lithonia. These different venues has brought the MACGCF to another level.

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The first Atlanta Collard Green Cultural Festival in 2010 was a resounding success!  Many new collaborations arose out of this festival, including the National Soul Food Museum, the Sustainable Black Summit, aka Black Sustainability, Inc., the People's Village Project and an exciting Black Farmer's Market.

The upcoming 2023 festival will be the 14th annual and we look forward to MACGCF being a permanent tradition in Georgia as it is in East Palo Alto, California. We look forward to the day that the Collard Greens Cultural Festival will be a festival sustained throughout the nation.