Grassroots Juneteenth celebration brings families out to Fulton Park Friday

LORAIN — After official events were canceled, a group of Lorain residents organized a Juneteenth celebration in General Johnnie Wilson Park. Kimyata Hawthorne, Dominic Price and others organized Friday's event through volunteers and donations — from bounce houses to hot dogs. "This year it was like everybody was kind of wondering what's going to happen?" Price said. "We just took the initiative to keep rolling because this is important for the community to understand and know the meaning of Juneteenth — I don't think we learned about this in the books." Hawthorne agreed: "(We) didn't learn about it at all in school." Juneteenth marks when Union soldiers landed at Galveston Texas in 1865 with news the war had ended and slaves were free — more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Friday brought dozens of people to General Johnnie Wilson Park, more often known as Fulton Park for its proximity to Fulton Homes apartments. Many children from the complex walked over, some playing basketball or bouncing in bounce houses donated by Lil Stan's Outside Entertainment. Willie and Alberta Jones, owners of Grub Station food truck, set up both a truck and grill to make hot dogs for the children there. Willie Jones said he got involved as a way of giving back and to help teach the kids "about the culture." The pair would have normally been at the Juneteenth Blues Fest at Lakeview Park or the celebration in Oberlin, but both were postponed this year due to the ongoing pandemic. "We think it's good. We think it's good for the kids, there's a lot of kids out here that need to eat, they're not getting nothing to eat and I think this is a wonderful thing," Alberta Jones said. "Get everybody together, especially after people've been through this coronavirus — a nice gathering and feeding the kids too." Some of those kids were part of the African Royalty Dance troupe, made up of children 5 years old to teenagers and directed by Donna Gilchrist. The group performed two traditional west African dances, "Yol'e" and "Drum." Arlinda Keaton and her daughter Brieana, both of Lorain, are mentors with the troupe. The pair enjoyed the afternoon at Fulton Park. "We're happy to come out here and celebrate Juneteenth with everyone," Arlinda Keaton said. "It's a good feeling of unity, especially with everything that's going on today." That feeling of unity is what organizers were hoping for. Hawthorne said the hope is to make their celebration an annual event, including fireworks. "As a community we want everyone to come out — this the International City," she said. "We want all nationalities to come out and have fun with us, it's not just us, it's everybody." Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.