Community members can look forward to the upcoming 33rd “Upward and Onward 2023” Juneteenth celebration that will be held Friday and Saturday at L.G. Griffin city park located in Levelland.
Friday’s Juneteenth celebration events will begin at 6 p.m. with children’s games at the south end of the park with prizes awarded. Bingo and dominoes will begin at 6:30 p.m. with bingo cards being $2 a piece with prizes awarded. Music through the ages and karaoke with DJ Willie Jones will begin at 8:30 p.m. There will be Frito pies, sausage wraps, turkey legs and drinks will be sold.
The celebration will continue Saturday morning at 9 a.m. with the Juneteenth car show registration and judging with prizes awarded, beginning at 10 a.m. The basketball tournament will also begin at 10 a.m. in the Carver Gym.
The annual barbecue meal and program will begin at 1 p.m. where the raffle prize winners will be drawn. Raffle tickets for two lottery baskets and a Dallas Cowboys quilt will be sold for $2 a piece until the drawing. Raffle winners do not have to be present to win.
Corn hole registration will begin at 2 p.m.
The Juneteenth Celebration Committee President Glenda Jones explained that L.G. Griffin brought the idea of a Juneteenth celebration to her in 1990. He noticed the celebrations hosted by other communities and wanted Levelland to host its own.
“He came to us and said all the other cities are having Juneteenth celebrations, parades and I’d like to see the same thing for Levelland,” Jones said. “From there, it sort of took off and we had no idea that it was gonna continue this long but it did, it persevered.”
Jones said people were disappointed when the celebration was not held the first year of COVID-19. The committee has been able to continue hosting the celebration following COVID-19 continuing the annual event.
“It is important because now the people in the community look forward to it,” Jones said. “We have people that come in from out of town, Dallas, Houston and different areas. They come here and they look forward to coming here.”
The committee begins planning towards the end of April every year. Jones said after 33 years everyone has a specific role or job and knows how to complete it.
“We have been starting in April since we’ve done this for 33 years, we’re so good at it,” Jones said. “Everything just falls into place. People on the committee take different jobs to try to get this started and everybody knows what to do. One person takes care of media, one person takes care of donations, so everybody has something that they volunteer to do.”
The two-day event continues to bring in a crowd that has grown every year and the community has continued to show more support as time has gone.
“We start on that Friday, and we do games,” Jones said. We have bingo and we have dominoes. We have something for everyone. The kids have a play day. We give prizes and they run races and do different games, and we have different kinds of food, great food.”
The events planned are not complex, but are there for everyone to enjoy the atmosphere of friends and family.
“We do a tournament that starts on that Friday evening, and it closes out Saturday,” Jones said, “and we give prizes for the winning team.”
Before the picnic on Saturday, there is a program which introduces the student awarded the L.G. Griffin scholarship.
“We have a barbecue meal and it’s just really wonderful,” Jones said. “We have a small program before we do the meal, and we also recognize the student who was given the L. G. Griffin scholarship during that time.”
Door prizes are given out during the picnic as well as one large prize at the end. The committee added a car show which Jones described as a success.
“On that Saturday, it’s the big picnic and a lot of people love that because we give away door prizes and a big door prize at the end,” Jones said. “We’ve had three years of doing a car show, and that’s something that we added. Last year, it was a very big success because we had different groups that do car shows. They came and joined us and that was just great. The people really enjoyed the car show.”
The City of Levelland has completed the pavilion and sign construction before the event. Jones explained the city aides the committee in helping set up for the celebration. She also expressed the willingness of the school to allow the committee to use the gym for the basketball tournament.
“The city always does such a wonderful job getting the park ready,” Jones said. “It just looks beautiful. They do a great job moving down the tables and that kind of thing. The school is always so open to letting us use the gyms, especially if it were to rain.”
Jones said the community can get involved by spreading news of the event by word of mouth. Donations are also welcome and monetary donations can be given at Prosperity Bank under the Levelland Juneteenth Committee.
“One way the community could get involved is by putting out flyers and donations,” Jones said. “We have had lots of donations from businesses and people in the community. All of this is done strictly through donations and everyone on the committee gives. The community gives, and that’s how we do this every year. We have an account at Prosperity Bank, so if anyone wants to donate it’s under Levelland Juneteenth Committee.”
Jones expressed everyone is welcome at the Juneteenth celebration.
“We welcome anyone because it just seems like there is such a division sometimes in the community,” Jones said. “We welcome any and everyone to come to this event. It’s not just for a certain group of people. I know it’s called the Levelland Juneteenth Celebration, but it’s an event that takes place here in the community and anyone is welcome to come and attend.”
More information can be found on the Juneteenth Committee Page or by contacting (806)-441-558 or (806)-548-4252.