NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – The Lowcountry Juneteenth Week, or J19 week as organizers call it, began on June 16 with their first inaugural parade through the Liberty Hill neighborhood in North Charleston.
Nearly 50 floats made their way down Gaynor Avenue before turning onto East Montague Avenue and circling back around.
Hundreds of people lined up the streets as the floats went by and were chanting “Happy Juneteenth.”
One of the Lowcountry Juneteenth Week organizers, Latisha Manigault, says that after the turnout they had for their first-ever parade, she can’t wait to see it only get bigger in the future years.
“This is very exciting to us, especially to come through a historically black neighborhood, such as the Liberty Hill neighborhood, to have our first inaugural parade,” Manigault says. “This is the first parade ever. We had a great showing. We had people come out and support, so, I think it is going to be something for years to come for people to enjoy.”
Another organizer for the Lowcountry Juneteenth Week, Sean Smith, says it’s been an honor to bring awareness to this holiday and expand the festivities into other counties.
“A big thing about this year is that we’re getting closer to, you know, getting to what we call our baseline, you know our biggest goal is to really bring the light into what the Lowcountry is, our culture, our black excellence, and what it means to the City of Charleston, the city of North Charleston and the surrounding communities,” Smith says.
The next event for Lowcountry Juneteenth Week will be held on June 18 for a luncheon. The festivities will continue the rest of the week until June 23.
Manigault encourages those who are interested in participating in one of their events to check out their website as some events are free while others require tickets to be purchased.
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