06/23/2026
Well, I must say Juneteenth 2026 was a remarkable time. I wish that I could influence people to attend that are not people of color. It is a time of celebration for everyone. We have to recognize that Juneteenth is a federal holiday for a reason. It was the end of the great injustice of enslaving a race of people. We must understand the past to embrace the future. It is my desire to have all people come together to celebrate and share in the Juneteenth Festival. Now having said that, The Bluenotes featuring Tony Brooks gave us a fantastic show Friday night. I would like to thank some instrumental people and groups: Our main sponsors, Jones County Community Hope and The Jones County Arts Council, along with donations from Blueprint, Oscars Mortuary, World Fashions, Beartown Academy, O'Reileys, JoAnn Dove, Curtis Media Group, and a few others that purchased banquet tickets for some of our contestants. Special shoutout to all who entered the car /bike/truck exhibition. We thank you for taking the time to participate. We thank London Sutton as our speaker, Vel and Mel catering for the delicious food, Inspiration by Ostray for the beautiful decor, Shema for her fashion show help and her donation of lounge wear to the models, Mrs. Tonya Jordan, Kings Chapel FWB Church, St. Stephen Church of Christ, Myrtle Grove Christian Church, Free Will Chapel FWB Church, St. Matthew AME Zion Church, the Moore Family, the Host/esses, DJ WagEnEm, DJ Tharol, Taylor Made Aerial Photography, Spruill photography, Event Guy Atlanta, Shivon Cannon (face painting), and most of all to all of the wonderful 23 vendors that came out to showcase their wonderful products. You guys made the event. Special thanks to our vendor spotlight this year to J*Esscentz and Beyond Boutique LLC. None of this would have been possible without the committees that made it happen: Scholarship Committee: Beverly Hines, Angela Moye, Ava Williams, Angela Paige, and Vernon Harris. Juneteenth Committee: Scholarship Committee plus Bishop Rodney Parker, Bishop Michael Pretty, Rev. Willie Jones, Louis Miller, Sam Ervin, Roger Crouell, Elder Darlene Parker, Tammye King, Eldridge Paige, and Terence Suiter. I know this was a long post but I just needed to let everyone know that you were greatly appreciated. I am waiting on the official pictures to showcase our winners. If I forgot to thank anyone, let me know and I will give you a personal post. Charge it to my head and definitely not my heart. Thank you, thank you, thank you all.
