- April 25, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
Malcolm Gaudin, Mac Gaudin, event co-organizer Mac Gaudin, Travis Mompremier and Malik Gaudin hold up a sign celebrating the holiday at Sarasota’s Juneteenth Festival.
Serenity Johnson, 7, is the owner of Reni’s Lemonade, which she opened when she was 4 years old.
Chip Nelson shows off his hand-crafted canes and jewelry.
Rilynn, Laylin and Whitney Hubbard of Hubbard Tees worked a tent offering T-shirts.
Andrew Maguire, Audrey Luck and William Maguire visited several of the food and merchandise vendors at Saturday’s festival.
Mafalda Henry poses for Katina Henry to snap some photos.
Jackie Eubanks, Meri Thomas and Lamayae Thomas pose at a tent with Father’s Day baskets for sale.
Clearance Robinson tends to meat on a grill along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way.
Briauna Jones and Jaberia Calahan had T-shirts and other products on display at the Self Love stand.
Horace and Momme Ewer of Tuby's Cafe serve up food.
Sarasota City Commissioner Willie Shaw said a prayer and offered remarks at Saturday's festival.
Zaiauna Middleton shows off a sign she made, posted outside of a stand where she sold candy.
Chaniqueva Collins grabs a cup of Italian ice she purchased.
Workers at Chucky D's Bar-B-Que prepare food.
Flags, balloons and other decorations lined the street.
Community members and local vendors congregated on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way on Saturday to celebrate Juneteenth, a day commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.
Mac Gaudin, one of the event organizers, said the Juneteenth Festival came together quickly, with the concept being floated just about a month ago. The organizers got buy-in from businesses and Newtown property owners who were enthusiastic about the concept.
Gaudin said event organizers let the official holiday, June 19, stand as a day for more solemn reflection on the significance of Juneteenth. The holiday marks the date in 1865 a union general issued an order in Texas proclaiming the freedom of enslaved people following the conclusion of the Civil War.
Gaudin saw the festival, held June 20, as an opportunity to bring Sarasota’s Black community together in the name of joy and love.
“Juneteenth is about unity,” Gaudin said.
He said celebrating as a community was particularly important in the wake of a period of national unrest and local protests fighting racial injustice. During a speech at Saturday’s festival, Sarasota City Commissioner Willie Shaw spoke to the continued effects of systemic racism in America, expressing hope this generation would succeed in achieving meaningful progress on that front.
“I’m sick and tired of conversations,” Shaw said. “I want to see action.”
