One of Atlanta's best-loved daytime dance parties is taking a bow. Founder Ree de la Vega announced on Instagram on Sept. 10 that Chaka Khan Hacienda will pause after its Sept. 27 event at Underground Atlanta, closing out a nine-year stretch as a gathering point for the city's LGBTQ+ community.
De la Vega did not frame the decision as a failure. She said she is proud of what the party became, but that its growth changed the experience. As crowds got bigger, she explained, the event got more expensive, more complicated and less personal, and she missed the feeling of everyone being at the same party together.
From a free weekly to a ticketed monthly
Chaka started small, as a free weekly day party at the restaurant 8Arm, which has since closed. It later moved to Pullman Yards in Kirkwood and, most recently, downtown to Underground. In 2025, de la Vega told Georgia Voice that a single party could cost more than $19,000 to produce, and the once-free weekly has since become a ticketed monthly event.
That trajectory mirrors what Underground's owners have been building toward. The complex has leaned into music, arts and events, from MJQ Concourse to the World Cup watch party buildout this summer, and it has a food hall and apartments on the drawing board for 2027.
What happens next
The future is open. De la Vega said she does not know how, when or where Chaka might return, or whether it will, and thanked everyone who came out and rolled with the changes over the years, along with the crews who helped produce each edition. She continues to run Pisces, the music-driven nightclub on Edgewood Avenue.
Ticket details for the Sept. 27 send-off are being posted on the party's Instagram. If this has been your Saturday ritual, the last one is the one to catch.
Original reporting by Katie Burkholder for Rough Draft Atlanta.
