Inaugural A-FEST to highlight issues of reproductive rights in wake of Dobbs decision

To Ally Smith and Allie Miller, the A in A-FEST stands for many things: abortion, the right to which the festival plans to support; as well as Athens, the community the festival will support. But what they mostly want it to stand for is "all of us."

"It takes all of us out to ... show up for each other, to be a community where we take care of us," Miller said. "Because, obviously, our government is not only not doing that ... they are actively working against our ability to take care of each other."

A-FEST, which will take place at Hendershot's and Little King's Shuffle Club on Saturday from 2 p.m. to midnight, is a food and music festival celebrating reproductive rights. Miller, Smith and others plan to help meet the new legal and financial challenges to abortion rights by fundraising for local reproductive health organizations.

"Not as helpless about everything"

Miller and Smith have shared a lot of things over the course of their decade-long friendship. What's most obvious is their first names; to differentiate, Miller calls herself "Big L" and Smith calls herself "Little L."

But chief among those is their connection with Athens. Smith runs the bar at Puma Yu's, and Miller heads up the hair salon Washington Square Studios. When they started talking to their friends about playing host to a festival, there was a lot of interest.

"Athens is great because we've asked a bunch of people if they would be down to do certain things and everyone has said yes," Smith said.

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A-FEST will feature food and drink pop ups from Puma Yu's, Rashe's Cuisine, Mouthfeel and more. Daytime entertainment will include face-painting and a silent auction, with drag shows and concerts in the evening. A-FEST will also host various local activists, including Mokah Jasmine Johnson and Prosper Hedges, as speakers.

The lineup, which is available in full at www.afestathens.com, promises a celebratory atmosphere. But the A-FEST organizers say the festival is not just for fun.

"When the [Dobbs] decision was announced ... I felt pretty helpless," said Smith. "I think that us organizing something like this is what made us feel not as helpless about everything."

A summer of change

The festival comes after a summer marked by the overturn of Roe v. Wade and the introduction of a six-week abortion ban in Georgia. The new legal barriers have left reproductive health advocates scrambling to adapt. Former Athens-Clarke County commissioner Mariah Parker said these obstacles have real-world costs.

"It's a particularly important moment for us to fund abortion funds because now folks do have to pay for travel, they do have to pay for hotels, they do have to jump through a lot more hoops than once upon a time in order to access the care they need," they said.

Parker will take part in A-FEST as both a performer as hip-hop artist Linqua Franqa and a speaker. To them, the festival is an opportunity for activists to strengthen their bonds with each other.

All proceeds from tickets and the silent auction will go to local reproductive health nonprofits. So far, that list includes Athens Reproductive Justice Collective, Access Reproductive Care Southeast, SisterSong and SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW.

Bigger than a festival

The goal of A-FEST, Miller said, is to fundraise "as much as humanly possible."

"I'm an Athens native, I was born here," she said. "I own a business here. I have two kids that are growing up here. It's a very poor community, you know, for all of our UGA-ness."

And the challenges go beyond here and now.

"I have an 8-year-old daughter and I grew up in a country where I knew that I had bodily autonomy, and there is a very big chance that my daughter's going to grow up in a country where she doesn't have that," Miller said. "It just infuriates me."

The organizers recognize that it will take more than a festival to meet the needs of those impacted by abortion restrictions. But they hope to start building something big at A-FEST.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: A-FEST celebrates reproductive justice, fundraises for nonprofits