In Hamilton, new for the Juneteenth Celebration is a free concert at RiversEdge, featuring the band Natural Progression, a regional group that performs R&B, funk, and jazz. Co-coordinator Candice White said they’ll be followed by a “party in the park” to end the evening with a DJ.
“It’s a celebration of freedom,” she said. “It’s also important to introduce culture, awareness, and even education because there are a lot of people of every nationality and background that still just don’t know what Juneteenth is. This is also a time to engage with a neighbor and to learn something new. We’re never too old to stop learning.”
Celebrating Juneteenth (short for June Nineteenth) on Saturday ― and then on Monday when the federal holiday is observed ― is important not just for the communities in Butler County, said White, but nationally, too, as it’s the day in 1865 the last slaves in Galveston, Texas were freed, some two-and-a-half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Hamilton Juneteenth Celebration co-coordinator Charla Hale, who is also the YWCA Hamilton’s Chief Strategy and JEDI officer, said it’s important to celebrate Juneteenth because “we have a rich and awesome African-American community here, and I think it’s an opportunity for all citizens to celebrate the same way we do on the Fourth of July, the thing same way we do all the other holidays. This is an opportunity to come together as families, as a community, and really get to experience the richness that is African-American culture.”
The celebration in Hamilton will run from noon to 9 p.m. at Marcum Park. The Rev. David Childs will kick the celebration off with an offer of praise and worship. The music and festivities will begin soon after throughout the day. The event will also have dance fitness in the park sponsored by Queens Village, a face painter for the kids, various other activities, and dozens of vendors. Natural Progression and DJ XL will end the celebration as they’ll perform at 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively.
Middletown’s third annual Juneteenth Family Celebration will end with a bang Saturday night.
For the first time with Middletown’s celebration, there will be a fireworks show at the end of the celebration at Douglass Park, said Celeste Didlick-Davis, one of the organizers. She said American Fireworks is providing the pyrotechnics.
The event will be held from noon to 8 p.m. Saturday, followed by the fireworks at dusk.
She said the goal of the event is to provide a safe, family-friendly environment, celebrate Juneteenth, educate the community about the origin of the national holiday, and promote unity while creating lasting memories.
“Just because I disagree with you doesn’t mean I hate you,” Didlick-Davis said. “It’s all about unity, inclusion. My job is to love people.”
The event will begin with a parade that starts from downtown Middletown at the MidPointe Library parking lot, down Broad Street to Yankee Road to Eighth Avenue to Lincoln Street to 11th Avenue to Minnesota Street into Douglass Park. The grand marshals will be veterans and members of the military community, Didlick-Davis said.
There also will be games, face painting, a foam pit (a new children’s attraction), Bingo, music, karaoke, and a variety of vendors, including food.
A public NAACP meeting will start at 2 p.m., followed by scholarship announcements at 4 p.m.
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