Juneteenth celebration planned in Sewickley

A celebration of historical significance is about to mark its fifth anniversary.

Sewickley’s annual Juneteenth celebration is scheduled for noon to 5 p.m. June 17 at the Sewickley Community Center, 12 Chadwick St.

There will be performances by the Triumph Church Choir, the Bryan Nash Trio, youth poets and Pittsburgh rapper Livefromthecity.

Other activities include a marketplace of diverse-owned businesses and food vendors, a bounce house, face painting, children’s activities and entertainment from DJ David Wicks. The community center’s swimming pool will be open to the public. Pool admission is $3.

Planning for the event began in February. The planning committee consists of Bonita Lee Penn, Patricia Lee, Denise Lindsey, Nancy Sansom and chair Shawnda Davis.

“This is our year of reinventing it,” said Davis, a Sewickley native who now lives in Moon. “They used to give a small celebration years ago, way before (Juneteenth) became a legal holiday and the center was under a different regime. When I came on the (community center) board, I wanted to try and rework it. In the midst of that, it became a legal holiday and (the celebration) seems to be growing every year.”

The committee hopes between 200 and 300 people participate.

Juneteenth is a 157-year-old tradition carried on by African-American communities all over the nation.

It commemorates June 19, 1865, the day Major Gen. Gordon and Union Army troops marched into Galveston, Texas, to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation and free the last enslaved Black Americans in that state.

The first Juneteenth celebration took place in 1866. It became a national holiday in June 2021.

Sewickley celebratory activities will be preceded by a new hour-long panel discussion at 11 a.m. at the center. The inaugural topic is “The Importance of Community.”

The panel features Duquesne University professor Rev. Victor J. Grigsby of Central Baptist Church in Pittsburgh, Abolitionist Law Center director Autumn Redcross, criminal defense attorney Giuseppe Rosselli and Sewickley native Tim Lee.

Questions the panel will address include what does community look like to you, what does it mean to build a strong community, what are the benefits and how does one sustain a strong community.

“Every year we want to do more to get more (of the) community involved,” Davis said about the panel discussion. “We thought this would be a way to bring more people that may not necessarily have youngsters or think that’s what they need to come to Juneteenth.

“There’s a lot of children’s activities, but (the event) is really a family activity and a community activity. Sewickley has changed so much. We’re trying to look for things to bring even more of the community out. Plus, it’s important to know what community is, and Sewickley is a great community.”

Celebration sponsors include Child Health, Sewickley United Methodist Church, Jamie and Pamela Rogers, Clearview FCU, Eat’n Park and other local community members.

More information about the event is available at sewickley communitycenter.com/ juneteenth.