Organizers for the third annual Juneteenth Celebration are hoping that the crowd at the Sunday afternoon event continues to grow.
Dr. Michelle Chappell, who co-chairs the event, said last year’s celebration drew about 500 people.
“We feel that it’s growing every year,” she said.
The celebration will be 4-7 p.m. Sunday in Central Park.
Chappell said there will be food trucks, activities for children, including face painting, tables vendors selling crafts and services, and music and performances from Henderson and surrounding counites.
The slogan for Henderson’s Juneteenth Celebration is “Educate. Empower. Inspire.” Chappell said this year’s event will feature the word “Inspire” and because the celebration falls on Father’s Day this year, it will focus on inspiring fathers.
The event will also include impact signs, in which past and present African-American community leaders are highlighted. Those signs, which include past residents Rev. Dr. Anthony Brooks and Thelma B. Johnson, will be placed under the shelter in Central Park.
There will also be two new signs honoring local NAACP President Deborah Hoda and Douglass High School.
The celebration will also feature prize giveaways for fathers that include Walmart gift cards and a gift basket from Thomason’s Barbecue, Chappell said.
Juneteenth, now a federal holiday celebrated on June 19, commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, to ensure all enslaved people were freed there.
The local celebration started in summer 2022. A group of the Henderson Leadership Institute, consisting of Ryan Nunn, Tim Miller, Courtney Ferguson, Heath Cox and Mi’Oshi Holloway (who is also a co-chair), organized the event for the group’s final HLI project. They partnered with Chappell and the Rev. Charles Johnson.
