CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Clarksville celebrated Juneteenth this weekend with multiple large events, commemorating the first year of Emancipation day being an official holiday.

This year, both the City of Clarksville and Montgomery County made Juneteenth an official government holiday. More recently, it became a nationally recognized holiday. On June 19, two festivals across Clarksville commenced to acknowledge and celebrate black culture.

Juanita Charles, leader of the Manifest Magic: Black Girl Cooperative and organizer of the Juneteenth Festival at the Wilma Rudolph Event Center, told Clarksville Now what Juneteenth is and it’s importance.

“Juneteenth is the oldest commemoration of the ending of slavery. In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation supposedly ended slavery, but people were still in bondage until 1865.” Charles said that the first recorded Juneteenth celebration featured a similar scene to Saturday’s events with dancing, music, and food.

“Now what it means to us today is it’s honoring our history, commemorating our freedom, and celebrating our culture for what it is,” Charles said.

The event at Wilma Rudolph Event Center featured back-to-back live performances, several vendors and food trucks.

A bike ride across America

Local activist Maurice Stegall spoke at the event and announced that he plans to travel across continental United States on bike to visit sites of civil unrest. Along the way, he meet with families who have lost loved ones due to civil unrest, as well as pay tribute to fallen police officers.

“The goal is unity,” Stegall said, “We live here together. Our kids deserve a future where the color of one’s skin is no longer a target nor a position of privilege.”

At the Downtown Commons Juneteenth Block Party, there was more variety of live entertainment, food trucks, and vendors. The event was sponsored by local businesses like Fat Shack, King’s Bluff Brewery, and Altra Federal Credit Union.

There were several local performers, including The African Village, the Royal Dazzlin’ Diamonettes, and Rufus Dawkins. Organizations such as Austin Peay’s Diversity book drive, and the NAACP we also in attendance.

Tiffany Perkins, the host and organizer of the event, told Clarksville Now that even though this event has been a year and a half in the making, she was thankful she was able to do it with her school schedule while also making it a successful event.

“Actually being here and looking out on the stage is so beautiful. I’m so thankful,” Perkins said.

Perkins said next year, she hopes to make event even better.

“I really just want to be able to involve more artists, more community members, more vendors, and more food trucks of course because the food trucks are fire.”

There were hundreds of people at the events all day.