A unity walk and a performance by Grammy and Academy Award-winning singer Regina Belle highlighted Manhattan’s 35th annual Juneteenth celebration over the weekend.
Jurdene Coleman, the chair of the Manhattan Juneteenth planning committee, said this year’s unity walk had one of the highest turnouts she can remember.
“The community walk is a special thing for us, and people always come and line up for it every year, so we’re excited that we get to continue that tradition,” Coleman said.
The walk on Saturday started at Long’s Park, and participants marched down Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Yuma Street and finished at the Douglass Center.
City commissioner Peter Oppelt said it was important to celebrate Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.
“In order to have a vital community, we all have to be together,” Oppelt said. “When we had a group of folks who, whether intentionally excluded from the larger group, we have to really be intentional in our inclusion. So I think things like this are really great to just have everyone together and having a good time.”
The Juneteenth celebrations also took place in City Park on Friday and Saturday night, where the crowed heard a performance from Belle and saw an outdoor screening of “42,” the Jackie Robinson film.
The U.S. officially observes Juneteenth on June 19.
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