'Freedom, family and fun:' How Battle Creek and Albion are celebrating Juneteenth

Nick Buckley, Battle Creek Enquirer
·4 min read
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Battle Creek's annual Juneteenth Family Day Celebration is back in full swing at Claude Evans Park.

Following two years of an toned down celebration of "Freedom Day" or "Emancipation Day" due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the community will gather for a two-day festival at 300 N. Washington Ave. to commemorate the end of slavery in the U.S.

Juneteenth marks the day, June 19, 1865, when Union Army troops reached Galveston, Texas, and announced that the Civil War was over and all slaves had been freed. It is believed to be the last area in the country where people learned of the end of the war.

The Underground Railroad statue is pictured in downtown Battle Creek Tuesday, June 14, 2022.
The Underground Railroad statue is pictured in downtown Battle Creek Tuesday, June 14, 2022.

Sam Gray, of the Juneteenth Celebration Committee, has been helping organize the annual event in Battle Creek since it started in 2003. The committee is partnering with the Southwestern Michigan Urban League and the Battle Creek chapter of the NAACP in running the event.

President Joe Biden in 2021 signed a bill into law to officially designate Juneteenth as a federal holiday. Because June 19, 2022, falls on a Sunday, many workers will have the day off June 20.

In 2005, the state of Michigan proclaimed the third Saturday in June as Juneteenth National Freedom Day in Michigan, designating it a state holiday. On March 1, the city of Battle Creek added Juneteenth as an official city holiday.

"It’s truly a community celebration of freedom," Gray said. “I think about the voyage over here and how Africans were treated and stacked in slave ships like sardines; all they had to endure to come here, then to go through slavery, the way they were treated. Absolutely, it’s something to be celebrated, but also, where do we go from here? The health and economic things we still experience today. So this is really about educating, inspiring and uplifting our community, and how all of us — Black, white, brown — come together and bring those changes.”

Beginning at 6 p.m. Friday, there will be a community kickball game open to all ages played at Fred Jones Stadium, followed by a dusk showing at the park of the Disney Pixar film, "Soul." There will be concession stand and free popcorn will be provided.

Saturday will feature a full slate of events and attractions, including:

• The Battle Creek Coalition for Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation is sponsoring a health equity expo from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., featuring free health screenings and a COVID-19 vaccination clinic. There will be free yoga and hip hop fitness classes.

• From 10 a.m. to noon, free hot dogs, chips and pop will be provided.

• From noon until 2 p.m., the Battle Creek Juneteenth Celebration Facebook page will premier videos from a contest for youth in grades third through 12th under the theme, "Future Leaders." Winning videos will be played at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. The deadline for entries has been extended to Thursday.

• Live music will be performed by throughout the afternoon the the Motown group The Velvelettes, Orchestra Jammbo’laya and Kalamazoo-based Jess and Ben.

• The day will include basketball games facilitated by the Cereal City Hoopsters, a "kids corner" activities area with balloon animals and costumed characters, and more than 50 food, retail and informational vendors until the celebration concludes at 6 p.m.

Members of the Battle Creek Juneteenth Celebration Committee stand for a photo at Fred Jones Stadium at Claude Evans Park in Battle Creek June 14, 2022. From left are Beatrice Orns, Shirley Tuggle, Lynn Ward Gray, Morgan Jackson, Deondra Ramsey, Angela Cleveland, Ron Sweet and Sam Gray.
Members of the Battle Creek Juneteenth Celebration Committee stand for a photo at Fred Jones Stadium at Claude Evans Park in Battle Creek June 14, 2022. From left are Beatrice Orns, Shirley Tuggle, Lynn Ward Gray, Morgan Jackson, Deondra Ramsey, Angela Cleveland, Ron Sweet and Sam Gray.

Battle Creek's first Juneteenth celebration was launched by the Senior Branch of the NAACP under its then-president Roberta Cribbs. Since 2009, the event has been a collaboration between the Juneteenth Celebration Committee and the Southwestern Michigan Urban League, combining the Juneteenth holiday and Urban League's Family Day celebration into one event. Amid the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the Juneteenth festivities were altered, using a digital format and motorcade.

"It is about our families and having an event for everyone," organizer Lynn Ward Gray said. "It’s freedom, family and fun."

Juneteenth Freedom Day in Albion

Mida Mhoon holds hands with her grandson, Jay'sean Terrell, 6, during a Black Lives Matter march June 19, 2020, in downtown Albion. The demonstration took place on Juneteenth, the day in which enslaved people in Texas learned they were free in 1865.
Mida Mhoon holds hands with her grandson, Jay'sean Terrell, 6, during a Black Lives Matter march June 19, 2020, in downtown Albion. The demonstration took place on Juneteenth, the day in which enslaved people in Texas learned they were free in 1865.

Albion will host its annual Juneteenth celebration beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday with a parade from City Hall to Holland Park at 100 N. Albion St.

At noon, there will be a short program presentation at History Hill. At 1 p.m., there will be food and business vendors, arts and crafts, fitness activities and health services — including COVID-19 vaccines, followed by the gospel festival at 5 p.m.

Contact reporter Nick Buckley at nbuckley@battlecreekenquirer.com or 269-966-0652. Follow him on Twitter:@NickJBuckley

This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: How Battle Creek and Albion are celebrating Juneteenth holiday weekend