The 34th Annual Juneteenth celebration will be held Friday, June 14 and Saturday, June 15 at the historic L.G. Griffin Park located in Levelland.
This year’s theme is set around ‘Preserving Our Roots, Embracing Our Future.’
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 talked about other cities having Juneteenth celebrations and parades,” said Jones. He said he would like to see the same thing for Levelland. From there the idea took off and we had no idea that it was going to continue this long but it has.”
Jones explained that community members were disappointed when the celebration was during the outbreak of COVID-19. Since then, each celebration has continued to grow in support and attendance.
“This celebration is important to a lot of individuals in the community and they look forward to it months in advance,” Jones said. “We have people that are willing to travel to Levelland from areas such as Dallas, Houston and different areas. They come here and they look forward to coming here.”
The committee begins planning the event towards the end of April. Jones said after 34 years everyone has a specific role or job and knows how to complete it.
“Everything just falls into place,” explained Jones. “People on the committee take different jobs 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 begins on Friday and continues through Saturday. Bingo, dominoes and races are a few activities attendees are able to participate in.
“We have something for everyone,” said Jones. “The kids have a play day. We put together run races and different games and then give out prizes. We also have different kinds of food for everybody to enjoy.”
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 which recognizes 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.
“We have hosted a car show for three years and last year it was a big success because we had different groups that take part,” explained Jones. “The people really enjoyed the car show.”
The City of Levelland and Parks Department have continued to make L.G. Griffin Park one of the best within the system. Recently completing pavilion reconstruction and construction of a new sign, the parks department continues to ensure the park is well kept and mowed.
Friday’s events will begin at 6 p.m. with kids activities followed by bingo and dominoes at 6:30 p.m. Capping off the evening will be the Friday Night Hangout which begins at 8:30 p.m.
Kicking off the Saturday events will be a car show at 8:30 a.m. The annual basketball tournament will begin at 10 a.m. and will go until a champion is crowned. The cookout will begin at 1 p.m. and a cornhole event will finish the celebration at 7 p.m.