Juneteenth Celebration kicks off Friday in Lawton

What better way to celebrate everyone’s freedom than with a weekend celebration?

The annual Juneteenth Celebration is back, with many different venues and things to do, including free food, live music, a Unity Event and even a drone display. The event will be held Friday through Sunday at Elmer Thomas Park, the Patterson Center and at 91 NE Maine Street.

Bishop John Dunaway, president of the Juneteenth Board of Directors, said they are trying to expand the Juneteenth celebration.

“Previously, Juneteenth had been a one-day event on a Saturday, most typically, the third Saturday in June,” Dunaway said. “Last year we had a two-day event. We had a block party on that Friday and then [on Saturday] we finished off the celebration. This year, we’re having a three-day event.”

Dunaway said they want to make the celebration available for everyone’s schedule.

“If one day does not fit their schedule, they can have an opportunity to participate out of one of those three days,” Dunaway said. “We also have some activities that we just cannot fit all into one day and one location.”

Regina DeLoach, chairman of the Juneteenth Unity Event, said this is the first time for a Unity Event.

“Last year, we had a play,” DeLoach said. “We had the opportunity to do something different then have to bring in the gospel music each year. It’s the first time that we’ve had the Gospel Extravaganza as well as the Community Discussion.”

DeLoach said the late community leader and educator, Albert Johnson Sr., initially planned to expand Juneteenth to three days.

“The goal is to get our whole community involved,” DeLoach said.

DeLoach said one of the things at the Unity Event will be a Community Cultural Discussion.

“We [will] have a panel, we’ll have different questions about education, medicine [and] religion,” DeLoach said. “We’ll open up for the audience to add their comments to the questions.”

After that, a Gospel Extravaganza presentation will be performed.

“We have, I believe, 60 churches that have sent representatives to participate in the choir,” DeLoach said. “It’s really considered a Father’s Day celebration because it’s on Father’s Day.”

“Hopefully, we can do this again in the future,” DeLoach said.