Juneteenth will feature culture and history
The 10th Annual Juneteenth celebration will fill Elgin's Festival Park with more music, food and fun than ever before — at least that's what organizers are hoping.
Justin Hodge headed up the marketing side of planning for this year's event. He said the goal is to make it bigger and better than ever, while preserving the history of African American culture.
“Very few know of the Juneteenth and the history behind it,” Hodge said. “We're trying to educate the community.”
Juneteenth celebrations across the country recognize the anniversary of the day the last of the country's enslaved people were freed by the emancipation proclamation. Though Abraham Lincoln issued the proclamation in 1863, its relevance depended on Union victory during the Civil War.
Only on June 19, 1865 did the people of Texas hear that the confederacy had surrendered and all of the enslaved people of the state would be free.
Gertrude McClain is the vice president of the African American Coalition of Kane County and oversees the festival planning. McClain said the festival is about acknowledging this history but also coming together as one community.
“Not trying to put one ethnic group above the other but melting together and coming as one, realizing that we all have a kinship somewhere along the bloodline,” is how McClain describes it.
The event will start at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, June 11 in Elgin's Festival Park, at Grove Avenue and Prairie Street. Jazz, R&B, gospel and blues performances will be among the entertainment for the day and food vendors will be set up until 8 p.m.
A dessert challenge and electric slide contest will add a competitive edge to the family festival.
A children's area will have activities for kids and booths will be set up with merchandise and information about local business and social organizations.
Hodge's new Festival Park business, Blue Hippo Pedal Boat Rental, will also get its start during the one-day event.
“We'd just like for people to come out and enjoy it,” McClain said.
For more information about the AACKC and the annual festival, visit africanacoalition.org.