Hulu has announced the release of a new documentary called Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told.
Freaknik is the name of an annual spring break festival that takes place in Atlanta, Georgia, every year. It is mainly attended by students of historically black colleges and universities. The very first event took place in 1983 and was a picnic at a public park near the Atlanta University Centre.
The get-together was organized by the student group the DC Metro Club, who wanted the gathering to be for students who could not afford to return home for spring break.
The event became very popular, and by the mid-90s, things had escalated, and the picnic would become a full-blown block party complete with live music, entertainment, street food, and more.
As numbers and attendances swelled, the event was shut down by the city by 1999. However, 20 years later, in 2019, the festival would return for a one-off.
This Hulu documentary plans to speak with the people that were involved in the earlier street parties, getting the low down on everything that occurred in the wildest of times.
Is there a Freaknik Documentary?
Yes, there will be a documentary film, and although no official release date has been given, Hulu will make sure it is well publicized when it is ready to air.
What will the Freaknik Documentary be about?
The show will no doubt focus on the history of the event and its origins. However, we are pretty sure that plenty of talking heads will offer up some never before heard insights into the nature of the festival as it expanded.
It seems that the documentary will also tell what happened that led to the banning of the event, so it appears that light will be shed on some of the more notorious incidents that happened.
When will the Freaknik Hulu Documentary be released?
At the time of writing, there has been no official word on the release date of this documentary. If we take an educated guess, it makes sense that the show could drop in April 2024, as that would be the anniversary of the 1994 Freaknik festival.
This was considered to be the event at the height of its powers, and this particular event would be well documented by photographer Shelia Turner. The documentary will heavily feature the photographic documentation of the event as part of its presentation.
This makes us think that April 2024 will be the release date, but take that with a pinch of salt.
Why did Freaknik get shut down?
The festival was its own worst enemy. As the event’s popularity grew, it attracted more and more people. It was estimated that in 1994, over two hundred thousand people would come to Atlanta to participate in all the festivities and events surrounding Freaknik.
This would lead to a mass influx of young people looking to party and causing concerns. The city would also not enforce open container violations, leading to lots of alcohol being consumed in cars.
Eventually, locals and business owners would become increasingly concerned about the yearly event. Neighborhood associations and business owners would put pressure on Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell, who would eventually decide that enough was enough.
The documentary will no doubt cover this as well.
