FOND DU LAC – For its 18th year, Ebony Vision’s annual Juneteenth Celebration will be its biggest yet.
This year’s event kicks off at 11 a.m. June 20 at Buttermilk Creek Park, 700 S. Park Ave., and attendees can expect food, music, activities and more to honor the holiday through culture, connection, and community, according to Ebony Vision.
Here’s what to expect.
Entertainment includes KOJO and Patcasso
This year’s event will feature Milwaukee band KOJO, which will bring a Caribbean music style, from Reggae to Zouk, to the park from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The members themselves come from St. Lucia, Jamaica, and Wisconsin, according to Bananas Entertainment.
Soulful Liners of MKE will follow, teaching line dancing from 1 to 3 p.m.
Live performance painter Patcasso will finish the day with a painting set inspired by the event and performed to music from 3 to 4 p.m.
Food trucks are new this year
Several food trucks will park at the event, including Global Eats, which serves a Midwest take on globally-inspired street food.
Another featured food truck is Big Ax Chops, known for New York chopped sandwiches, smash burgers, loaded fries and more.
Additionally, Taste of Africa will set up in the park’s concession stand.
Vendors and activities fill the park
The Juneteenth celebration will also include vendors, raffles, appearances from local organizations, and an educational tent sponsored by Moraine Park Technical College and driven by a grant from the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Several kids’ activities will also be available, including a face painter and free toys and books.
Juneteenth commemorates the ending of slavery in the US
Every year, Ebony Vision shares the free festival with the community, as the holiday is historically celebrated among family with poetry, song, dance, children’s activities and more.
The holiday of Juneteenth falls on June 19, commemorating the day in 1865 when Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, still under Confederate control, and announced the more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in the state were free by executive decree.
Wisconsin became the 34th state to recognize and celebrate Juneteenth in 2009, and Juneteenth became a national holiday in the United States in 2021.
Ebony Vision is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. Its office at 14 Western Ave., Suite 203, holds the Lending Library and is open 9 a.m. to noon Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. For more information, visit ebonyvisionfdl.org.
Daphne Lemke is the Streetwise reporter for the Fond du Lac Reporter. Contact her at dlemke@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Fond du Lac Reporter: Ebony Vision Juneteenth celebration set for June 20
Reporting by Daphne Lemke, Fond du Lac Reporter / Fond du Lac Reporter
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Daphne Lemke, Fond du Lac Reporter | USA TODAY Network
