Juneteenth celebration returns to Danville

Jun. 17—DANVILLE — After last year's event didn't happen, the Danville Juneteenth Celebration will return this year and in a big way.

The first event in 2021 was at Lincoln Park, but this year's event will be at Temple Plaza on Monday from 2-7 p.m.

"The schedules didn't work out and the people who worked with us previously were not going to be in town, so the schedules didn't match," Danville Juneteenth Committee member Chris Hightower said. "I feel that the spirit of the holiday is to get everyone on the right accord. While last year was disappointing that we didn't put on a celebration, I am pretty happy about that we are going to do this this year."

Hightower said the move to downtown Danville can only help expand the range of the event.

"Doing it downtown makes it more of an event for the entire community," Hightower said. "Everyone is familiar with Temple Plaza and considers it a town meeting place. The parks are cool, and I enjoyed doing it at the park, but doing it at the plaza gives it more gravitas."

While there will be a lot of fun during the celebration, there will also be speakers like Hightower, Pastor LeStan Hoskins, Kendall Moore and Danville Vice Mayor Tricia Teague to talk about the history and importance of this fairly new holiday, which was declared a federal holiday in 2021.

"We are going to have multiple speakers come up and I am going to give a lot of the information and knowledge abut how Juneteenth got started what it is about," Hightower said. "I know a lot of people know about Juneteenth, but some still don't know what this holiday is all about. We want to use this opportunity for everyone to come and get a deeper understanding of the holiday and the meaning."

Along with the speakers, there will be performances from the Danville High Unity choir and local singer Lamont Davis and a community prayer from Pastor Thomas Miller of New Life Church of Faith.

The performances will be part of the stage show from 2-4 p.m. After that, there will still be a lot going on for all of the family — especially for kids — with a bounce house, face painting, Joyful Bubbles and tunes from DJ Erik Felix.

"We wanted to make sure that we had a lot of things for kids to do because summer school is going to be off and most of the after school programs as well," Hightower said. "We wanted make to make sure that we had a lot of things for the kids to do. While we are definitely want to teach everyone about the holiday, we also want people to come out and learn and to be entertained and celebrate. While Juneteenth has a deep meaning, it is a celebration and we want to take advantage of that."

After last year's event failed to happen, the committee reformed and focused on what to do for this year's event with members Hightower, Breon Boyd, Jorica Rapier and Zetta Pigot.

"Breon, Jorica and I were part of the first celebration and we have known each other almost all of our lives and we managed to keep a good line of communication," Hightower said. "Miss Pigot coming on was a great decision because she is very determined and dedicated and it is great for individuals outside the community to be part of the community. She is not originally from Danville but she lives here and works for the district so this is an opportunity for her to give back to a place where she is not from.

"We have been meeting for four months and there were some things that we could have done differently, but we are going to put on an event the community can be proud of and activities for someone to enjoy. I am sure we are going to have hiccups and things at the end of the say that we wish we could have done differently but it is going to be a celebration and an opportunity to come together and fellowship."

Along with activities for the kids, there will be the first-ever Danville Spades Tournament during the festival and at 7 p.m., the Fischer Theater will be showing the classic 1978 musical "The Wiz."

"The tournament will start at 5 p.m. so sign-ups will start at 2 p.m.," Hightower said. "We hope to get 8-10 teams signed up and we will give out a small cash prize for the winning team, so I am looking forward to it. I have to thank the Fischer Theater for putting on the movie and to everyone that is speaking."

Hightower said that the celebration is not closed to anyone and wants it to be something that connects all races.

"I think that the momentum that a lot of communities had in 2020 dissipated and the idea is to get that back to encourage education, learning about your history, to build back the entire community and get everyone involved," Hightower said. "We don't want anyone to feel that this is a celebration specifically for Black People. We are celebrating the liberation and freedom of former slaves, but other races and ethnicities should come out and celebrate because it affects them as well. It is only right to take the time to learn about everybody's journey in this country."