Together in Grace conducts Juneteenth celebration

By Melissa McCaghren

Slatonite GM

Laughter, music, food and fun graced Elgie Allen Park and the newly installed RC pavilion Saturday afternoon (June 18) during a Juneteenth celebration.

Doris Jones, who set up the event, said this was the third Juneteenth and thanked everyone for coming. “I just wanted to do something at the end of the day that has been on my heart to bring the community together,” she said. “Although we are different races, at the end of the day – no matter what it looks like on the outside, we are all the same on the inside. We are all brothers and sisters and that’s the way we should treat each other regardless of what status we have in life.”

Juneteenth, which is June 19, commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. It was when the announcement of General Order No. 3 by Gordon Grainger, Union Army general who read the proclamation in Galveston in 1865.

The date was made a national holiday last year by President Joe Biden.

Mayor Clif Shaw said he was happy to be there and said this was one thing he campaigned on – to unite Slatonites together. “The way we do that is sharing our experiences with each other,” he said, adding that he and all four commissioners were there to help bring the issue to notice and get it fixed.

For more information, please read the Thursday edition of The Slatonite.