Juneteenth celebrations planned this weekend
For the third time, starting in 2021, Oak Ridge is celebrating Juneteenth in its historic Scarboro neighborhood Friday and Saturday.
The federal Juneteenth holiday celebrates the end of slavery of African Americans in the U.S., specifically the date of a proclamation freeing slaves in Texas.
While the official day is Monday, June 19, Oak Ridge’s events this year are on Friday, June 16, and Saturday, June 17.
The events on Friday will be from 4-8 p.m. at the Scarboro Community Center, 148 Carver Ave.
There will be a community kickball tournament, an inflatable bounce house, free cotton candy and snow cones, a DJ, bingo and a spade tournament.
The events on Saturday will be from noon until 8 p.m. at Hampton Road in Oak Ridge.
There will be multiple vendors, bounce houses, live gospel and R&B music, face painting and carnival games.
Oak Ridge’s recent string of annual Juneteenth celebrations, organized by Ta’Shunte Collins and Tyler Gulley, started in 2021, the same year Juneteenth became a federal holiday.
Gulley and Collins have said that their style of celebration was inspired by Scarboro’s past Fun in the Sun days.
But those Scarboro events were not associated with Juneteenth until 2021.
Clinton event
The Green McAdoo Center is also having its third-annual Juneteenth Celebration from 4:30 - 9:30 p.m. Saturday, June 17.
The museum has announced on Facebook that it will have bingo, games, live music, giveaways and food trucks.
It will also feature a conversation with author Louise Martin about her book “A most Tolerant Little Town” about the Clinton High School desegregation, at 4:30 p.m.
