Juneteenth celebration set for Saturday

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Robert Farley of Las Cruces cooks up some chicken quarters at last year’s Juneteenth celebration in Potter Park. Farley cooks every year and starts at 4 a.m. the day of the event.

William Hall began organizing a free Juneteenth Celebration in Clovis 22 years ago after he realized there was a great need in the community.

“They were having a deal at Hillcrest Park — they would set up booths and sell food for $10 a plate,” Hall said. “I went out there and walked around and I couldn't believe they were trying to make a dollar off our ancestors in chains … Kids were walking around there and they didn't have any money to pay for a plate of food.”

Hall said at that moment he decided to make a difference, and he began going around the city to raise donations. Since that day he has been organizing a free Juneteenth Celebration every year for the city.

The New Mexico Office of African American Affairs awarded Hall with a prestigious Executive Honor for his decades long dedication to the Juneteenth Celebration at their Outstanding Awards Luncheon June 6 in Albuquerque.

“I feel like I was a kid in a candy store,” Hall said. “I never thought something like this would happen.”

According to the OAAA web site, the Juneteenth Celebration is a state holiday that commemorates the ending of slavery in the U.S.

“This one has grave significance, it's the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth,” said Selmus Price, Clovis NAACP president. “It is a major component in the history of African Americans — period. And a lot of the information is not in the history books.”

“The southern states were the last ones to get the word,” Price continued. “The emancipation was in 1863, but it wasn't until June 19, (1865) that information got to the southern states.”

The Juneteenth celebration kicks off at noon Saturday at O.G. Potter Memorial Park. Hall expects more than 25 volunteers to keep cooking until 6 p.m.

“We will have lots of barbecue pits out there,” Hall said. “Everything is home cooked.”

The event also features several activities for kids including free swimming 1p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Potter Park pool.

The Juneteenth celebration continues Sunday at a separate event hosted by the Clovis NAACP Branch at 3 p.m. at Legacy Life Family Church.

The theme of the Fifth Annual Community-Wide Juneteenth Celebration is “The Journey — A Vision that is 150 Years Old.”

The family-oriented event will feature the Buffalo Soldiers Society of New Mexico and health care information exhibits.

Price said the mission of the Juneteenth Celebration is “a matter of sharing African-American culture.”

“The awareness, the history behind it … is a good thing for all ages,” Price said. “It will spark conversation.”