By Lila Miller
JUNETEENTH is back! This year in Savannah, the Juneteenth Fine Arts Festival is back for its third year the last few weeks of June.
I had a moment to catch nonprofit Chosen for the Arts (CFTA) founder and executive director Patricia Perry ahead of the Unity in Fireworks show June 19 and Juneteenth Fine Arts Festival June 21 to find out more.
Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation of African-American people under President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, though Texas and Delaware wouldn’t follow suit until 1865.
“It's about the slaves being free. And had that not happened, our country would be completely different. It's about celebrating that time," Perry says.
"Just like many celebrate the Fourth of July, African American people and other cultures come together during the Savannah Juneteenth Fine Arts Festival to celebrate that freedom and celebrate the culture and everything that Juneteenth has done and that freedom has given us in America,” Perry explains.
Throughout the last few weeks of June, Savannah Juneteenth events include Lunch and Learn, June 10 and 17, community-based educational lunches, Unity in Fireworks, June 19, a fireworks show and entertainment, and The Juneteenth Festival day, with live entertainment, vendors, food trucks and more, on June 21.
For the Lunch and Learns, lunch is community-oriented and speakers come to discuss a variety of topics, last week’s was estate planning, this week’s on June 17 is about financial freedom, and building wealth after Juneteenth, led by Karen Windsong.
Perry enjoys the accessibility of tough topics during a lunch hour.
“Last week, we talked about estate planning and different things throughout your community, not just the African American community, but we actually went into depth for that we talked about estate planning and just being ready for when that time comes, to where everything is in order," she says.
"Next week, we have another session that is going to talk about financing within the African American community, and we have a certified accountant coming through just to talk about how to get everything lined up with your finances and being prepared for different things that come through with life. Within that session, you'll get lunch. We'll sit there and we'll chat. We'll have conversations. It's a good time for anyone that's really in the downtown and midtown area just to come down, enjoy the session, have lunch and go back to work. We're done by 1 p.m.,” Perry elaborates.
June 19, the fireworks show will go off at nightfall in partnership with the Savannah Fire Department in Daffin Park, with a flurry of activities at the event’s start at 5 p.m. including live cultural performances, children’s activities and games, giveaways, community partners and food trucks.
“It's Unity in Fireworks. The event is basically another festival day. It is the second one we've done. We were the first ones in the city of Savannah to do a firework show on Juneteenth," Perry says.
"What you're going to get is a live band. TGLive will be performing. You'll get a drumming circle by Temakha. She's one of our artists for Saturday. She's also a drummer here and performer in the city of Savannah. You're going to get food trucks, a kids area, vendors, you're going to get community partners. You'll see the Savannah Fire Department out there with the fire trucks for the kids. You'll see the Savannah Police Department out there just helping us throughout the day,” Perry says.
Miss Juneteenth Savannah, Ytinu McDonald will also be in attendance before her move to Howard University in the Fall. Although she has won a lot of scholarships, McDonald still needs help with the tuition gap for Howard.
Philanthropists can find fundraising info on the Juneteenth website to help McDonald get to Howard University.
“She has won so many different scholarships and has had so many different opportunities, but we have started a fundraiser for her, just to be sure she has what she needs. She has a gap there with that tuition. So she's been accepted, she's gone and done the visits and everything. She is actually going to pick her dorm room, all of that good stuff, but we still have a gap in that tuition that we try to do what we can to help her get to Howard University and be able to definitely represent the city in a good way,” Perry explains.
City officials Mayor Van Johnson, Alderman Detric Legett, City Manager Joseph Melder and others will also be in attendance.
“Last year we hosted about two thousand people, and that was literally with us doing minimal marketing for the event. We're looking for so many more this year, and we're ready for it. Falcon fireworks is the who's providing this fireworks show," Perry says.
"Eichholz Law Firm is actually our presenting sponsor for the entire festival. The city manager's office actually sponsored the fireworks for tomorrow. You'll see a lot of city participation. In with that, of course, Chosen For The Arts. We're the nonprofit that hosts the event, so we'll be out there just with a few other community partners and vendors for the day. Next thing you'll see is a small village for the Greater Black Chamber, they will have a set of vendors and everything that are members of the Greater Black Chamber. So you'll see African art…” Perry emphasizes.
Other organizations and vendors of note include Resilient Magazine, Sexton-Hall Funeral Homes, Grace Autism Services, and Live Oak Libraries.
CFTA’s mission statement includes that they “are dedicated to ensuring that arts and culture remain accessible to everyone, fostering an inclusive, creative community where opportunity and inspiration thrive,” their website reads.
How does sponsoring the Juneteenth Festival continue to illustrate their mission? “Sponsoring Juneteenth is honestly our mission, along with so many other projects. What we tried to do with Juneteenth is make arts and culture accessible to any and everyone, and allow any and everyone to express themselves within that while celebrating Juneteenth," Perry says.
"What you will see, as far as our mission, is a lot of diversity when it comes to Juneteenth. Though, it is about celebrating the freedom of black people and African American history. What we try to do differently is allowing any and everyone to come and do that. Because you have all types of races that want to do that celebration, and they understand the importance of Juneteenth. So that just falls along with our mission within Chosen For The Arts, just to be able to come through and celebrate and be free with the art,” Perry says.
Juneteenth is a day for celebration, unity, and community.
“Have a day of unity and community and have fun. Like I said, it's outdoors. It's summertime. You have all types of visitors here. You have the locals here. There's so many opportunities there with the vendors, just to be able to sit in the grass and enjoy the show. You have food trucks, you have games for your kids. You have other nonprofit organizations that will be there, that you can learn about, that is something else that within Chosen For The Arts, that we like to do, to not make it about one organization, but branch out in the community and see what it is we can do to help. And if nothing, we can specifically make sure that other people know that those organizations are in need and they need that help. So, just a day of unity and fun and celebration,” Perry finishes.
The next Lunch and Learn is June 17, the Unity in Fireworks show is June 19, and the Savannah Juneteenth Fine Arts Festival is June 21 at Forsyth Park at 4 p.m. All events are free and open to the public to enjoy. For more information on times, vendors, and locations visit savannahjuneteenthfestival.com.