Chillicothe is the Location of Three “Juneteenth” Events

06/05/2024

Chillicothe — Three events will celebrate “Juneteenth” this month. The Pump House Center for the Arts, Majestic Theatre, and Yoctangee Park will mark the anniversary of the final freeing of slaves at the end of the Civil War.

President of the Ross County NAACP Adrienne D’Souza, and first vice president of the Pump House Angela Young, are Juneteenth co-coordinators. They explained the upcoming events in the below video interview.

The annual Juneteenth art show at the Pump House has already started, but opening night is 6:30 to 8pm Friday (not the usual Thursday). Winners will be announced, and their work be on display there until June 28th.

The actual Juneteenth event will be in Yoctangee Park on June 19th. Sponsored by “W.I.N.,” Women in NAACP, it will be 11am to 11pm. Food, fun, music, and crafts will help “celebrate as a united community.”

Although President Abraham Lincoln enacted the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863, some slaves in the furthermost reaches of the Confederacy in Texas did not benefit from it until almost a month after the war ended, when freedom was finally enforced on June 19, 1865. Two web sources:

Wikipedia on Juneteenth
National Museum of African American History and Culture: “The Historical Legacy of Juneteenth”

Young and D’Souza say the national theme of the 2024 Juneteenth is “Their Wildest Dreams” – which “honors the history of our ancestors while also highlighting present accomplishments which our forbears could not have dreamed.”

The big event will be June 22nd. They say the event has outgrown its original site and the weather can be unpredictable, so it will be in the Majestic Performing Arts Center.

Three acts between 3 and 7pm will feature poets, music of all kinds, and a Civil War re-enactor. The winners among the 60 entries in the grade 6 through 12 poetry contest will also be announced.

Two food trucks will be there, along with many vendors and sponsoring organizations. There will be no admission fee, but a love offering will be welcomed.