A full recap of the Award-Winning Juneteenth Heritage Festival

MERIDIAN, Miss. (WTOK) -The city of Meridian’s award-winning Juneteenth Heritage Festival concluded on Sunday as thousands of people from the community and around the area came out for four days of Juneteenth festivities.

Beginning on Thursday with the Trailblazers and Gospel celebration, as over a thousand people packed out the Temple Theatre for a night of gospel music and celebrating the trailblazers. Friday was the Black Business Expo at the MAX, as many black business owners set up shop, and others enjoyed live music and dancing.

Saturday was a jam-packed day full of fun, filled with the pickleball tournament, the kidzone at Highland Park, where over 700 kids came out with their families, and to end the night, the Heritage Festival took place on the lawns of Meridian City Hall with a beautiful fireworks show for those to enjoy.

Sunday was the Brian Cole Baseball Classic, where everyone was dressed in their number 3 Cole jerseys to remember Brian Cole. Terrance Davis, the city of Meridian Cultural Affairs Director for the city of Meridian says that he is proud to have people from other communities come and celebrate Juneteenth with our city, as it also helps Meridian economically.

“I did not know until we actually won the pinnacle award that our Juneteenth Festival was four days, and it was as big as it was bleeding over into other communities. So people from Laurel, Hattiesburg, they come over to our Juneteenth and they love what we’re putting on to celebrate with us the freedom from 1865 to now. We’re talking about those accomplishments that have happened in the community as well as around us. That’s very important to have people from the other communities come and celebrate with us, and we appreciate that. That helps us as a community as well. Our restaurants are being filled, our hotels are being filled. So it’s an economic power. As well and as well as people travelling from Laurel to Hattiesburg to be a part of our pickleball tournament, same thing. We have people from all around coming to be a part of our Juneteenth. They love what we’re doing and how we’re celebrating and educating, that’s important.”

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