Olympia’s third Juneteenth Celebration Festival spotlights Black joy and healing

Olympia’s third annual Juneteenth Celebration Festival featured performances from several local artists and organizations at Rebecca Howard Park on Sunday.

The Women of Color in Leadership Movement, the Hawk Foundation for Research and Education in African Culture, Media Island International and the City of Olympia hosted the celebration. Though much of the event took place in rain and hail, dozens in the community still came to celebrate.

Shawna Hawk, the event’s organizer, said the celebration gives the Black community the opportunity to experience joy and express their talents. Being able to share resources and connect with the broader community is also healing for her.

“I’m feeling good to see Black faces, especially, smiling, having a good time gathering,” Hawk said. “I’m happy to see the community embracing us and hearing what we have to say, hearing the importance of Black history and Black people’s presence in Olympia.”

Javoen Byrd, executive director of the Hawk Foundation, said Juneteenth acknowledges one of America’s original sins, enslavement. The federal recognition of the holiday in 2021 was an important step forward, Byrd said, but it also spoke to the erasure of this part of U.S. history.

Growing with one’s community through education helps create an equity-centered reality, he said. The Outlaw, a member of the Buffalo Soldiers of Seattle, spoke about the buffalo soldiers’ historical significance as one part of the celebration’s education programming.

“When we embrace that history, it shows our children, and our children’s children, that we might have made a mistake, but together we move forward and we’re creating something very different,” Byrd said.

Anomalous Partners co-Founders Khalila Fordham and Askia Christian led event attendees through a guided meditation. Fordham, who has a doctorate in clinical psychology, said she hopes the agency will help make individual therapy more accessible through free workshops and one-on-one consulting.

Re-healing and rebuilding communities that have been destroyed over centuries means rethinking the techniques historically provided around mental health and overall well-being, Fordham said. For her, this involves community-based healing and creating solutions alongside clients, not for them.

“We try to come from a place where we’re being very self-aware of our strengths but also our shortcomings, and really trying to do the best that we can [to serve our clients],” she said. “Juneteenth is a time for our people, our communities to come together and we want to be present for them.”

Outside of the main stage, The Marketplace featured vendors selling goods ranging from paintings to specialty lemonades.

Hawk said the area held significance beyond being a vending center. During enslavement, she said that in many parts of the country, slave masters would give Black Americans one day off each week to trade goods, communicate and socialize with each other. The Marketplace is meant to be symbolic of that tradition, she said.

“Having the Black businesses and organizations being able to sell their goods, show their successes, and talk about why they do the art that they do is really important,” Hawk said. “We’re honoring that sacrifice that our ancestors made.”

KyChelle Barnes, a vendor for the Tumwater-based Black Mermaid Products, sold various types of soap, wax melts and teas at The Marketplace. The Black, woman and veteran-owned small business is headed by Duana Edmund, Barnes’ mother.

Barnes said she returned to sell goods after her positive experience last year. Being able to form new ties to the community, make new friends and see other Black business owners succeeding inspired her.

This was J’Niyah Williams’ first time vending at The Marketplace. Her Seattle-based business, IN.NY.MIND, features her colorful, blocky art on prints and T-shirts. Since a young age, Williams said she has been drawing her own inspirations from Black culture, centering on themes like Black love and rollerskating.

Like Barnes, connecting with other vendors and learning about their art inspired Williams.

“I think we just, especially after 2020, don’t get to see each other’s faces and get to know each other,” Williams said. “[The celebration] is a great way to show community and get everybody together.”

The Parks, Arts and Recreation Department also set up a booth at the event, where they displayed biographies of Black figures in Olympia’s history alongside a draft concept plan of the Rebecca Howard Park. Hawk said she hopes the park will become a place to celebrate these hidden figures and will serve as an educational space for the broader community. The city will start a public process to share some design concepts of the park with the community later this year, according to Parks Director Paul Simmons.

Olivia Salazar de Breaux, an equity, inclusion and belonging specialist in the department, said she hopes to see the Juneteenth event continue to expand and see more cultural events in Olympia in upcoming years.

“Representation is important. We don’t have spaces here where in the community, especially people of color can come and see themselves reflected in our art and history,” she said. “I think about our families, our kids, growing up in this community. I want them to see themselves reflected.”