Residents celebrate at Jackson Juneteenth event
JACKSON, Tenn. –Ahead of the Juneteenth holiday, many events were held today all throughout West Tennessee to celebrate.
The 33rd annual Jackson Juneteenth Freedom Day was held in the Hub city Saturday.
It’s put on each year by the Society for African American Cultural Awareness.
“It’s all about getting together, unifying. There’s no charge for vendors. We’ve never charged. Everybody just comes out for an old-fashioned picnic, but not only is it a celebration. It’s all about information, affirmation and renewal and remembrance of what happened June 19th, 1865,” said Wendy Trice Martin, President, Society for African American Culture Awareness.
It’s a nine hour day full of vendors, entertainment, food and activities for the whole family.
Aarin and Mo’ashrus Jones are attending their first year and could not wait to see what was in store.
“I was looking forward to seeing new things today, like exploring and like seeing things that I never seen before,” said attendee Mo’Ashrus.
“Seeing new people that I never seen before, finding new things and stuff like that,” said attendee, Aarin.
For the vendors, they say the event gives them the opportunity to introduce the community to what they offer.
“It’s a black organization. We’re trying to come out into our black culture and into our black communities to offer what we have, and we thought Juneteenth would be the best opportunity for us to do today to get our names out here,” said James Mayfield, vendor Blessed Essential Custom T-shirts Design.
There were also booths set up to allow people to register to vote on site, and informational booths to teach about health in the black community.
“We want to educate the public on chronic kidney disease. That’s one of our initiatives and COVID vaccine boosters, because right now we know that covid-19 is affecting us significantly. And we want to encourage individuals to get their COVID shots and their COVID boosters,” said Mechelle Moragne, vendor, The Links Incorporated.
One Flesh owner, Carol Campbell says celebrating Juneteenth is more important than many may know.
“It’s about our freedom. We should always study our history because if we don’t know the past, we can’t even speak about the future or even know about our future,” Campbell said.
The event is taking place until 7:00 p.m. this evening..
Vendors say they’re already looking forward to next year’s event.
