Juneteenth celebrations in Spokane started small but keep growing

Torrents of rain did nothing to stop the Inland Northwest Juneteenth Coalition’s first celebration at Liberty Park in 2011.

Dozens of people showed up in the midst of a storm for three hours to listen to speakers educate about the holiday and what it means for the Black community.

“We celebrated, dang it,” coalition co-founder Alan Jones said. “It was rainy and people were still happy. Everyone was excited.”

Though the celebration was small, Jones and the event’s other co-founder, Michael Bethely, were ecstatic. They had been setting aside money from their paychecks for months, and knew the resilient turnout was a promising sign of community interest.

Fourteen years later, with the help of local organizations and sponsorships, the coalition has developed an annual multiday Juneteenth celebration attracting hundreds of people.

Juneteenth marks the anniversary of the day in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, to declare the freedom of more than 250,000 enslaved people, two years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

Though it became a federal holiday in 2021, the event has been celebrated since freed men in Texas organized a “Jubilee Day” on June 9, a year after their emancipation. As Black people migrated from Texas to other parts of America, the Juneteenth tradition spread with them.

Enter the Inland Northwest Juneteenth Coalition.

Bethely and Jones are deeply familiar with the holiday’s significance in American history. Both grew up attending Juneteenth festivities, Bethely in Arkansas and Jones in Virginia.

Prior to 2011, celebrations of the holiday in Spokane occurred but on a smaller, informal scale.

Peggy Trout, a community organizer and recipient of the Heartwood Award given at the celebration’s annual Pillar Awards, set up educational Juneteenth picnics in the 1980s and 1990s. Later, local churches celebrated the holiday with get-togethers in public parks.

Bethely and Jones saw the smaller celebrations as an opportunity for greater engagement and education about the holiday.

“The U.S. is big on freedom and promoting freedom,” Bethely said. “That’s why it’s important, because as African-Americans, Juneteenth signifies a huge step in what’s supposed to be our nation changing.”

With the permission from local ministries and the guidance of Trout, the pair took the first steps in their 14-year journey to spread the message of Juneteenth across the Inland Northwest.

After paying out of pocket the first year, they went on to receive support from local community colleges and Spokane Public Schools. Years passed by and the coalition slowly gained more sponsors and public recognition.

It hasn’t always been easy. As a smaller nonprofit, it can be difficult to secure funding from grants when they don’t meet the criteria for revenue or operating expenses, Jones said.

Nevertheless, they persevered. This year, the coalition is hosting three events celebrating the holiday.

They partnered with the Locked In Fathers Alliance, an initiative empowering Black fathers with mentorship and resources last Sunday for a Father’s Day barbeque.

Their main Juneteenth Celebration will take place noon to 4 p.m. Thursday at Grant Park. The family-friendly event will feature vendors, food, live music and networking opportunities.

Though these festivities are a key part of Thursday’s picnic, it’s main purpose is education.

Jones will take the stage to teach about the history of the holiday and the Emancipation Proclamation, topics about which most people aren’t fully educated, he said. They also will distribute handouts for kids to take home.

“We want that conversation to continue,” Jones said. “Especially for the youth, it’s more important because we won’t be here forever. They have to keep that torch going.”

Friday, the Juneteenth festivities will close with the annual Pillar Awards, a black-carpeted event celebrating individuals, businesses, nonprofits and churches making an impact on Spokane’s Black community.

The semiformal event kicks off at 6 p.m. at The Fox Theater, with the awards show starting at 7 . They will also present two $500 scholarships to graduating seniors from the area’s district high schools.

Looking to the future, the pair envision the celebration expanding to a larger venue such as Riverfront Park involving the entire city, similar to Hoopfest or Pig Out in the Park.

But for now, they are happy to honor the story of Juneteenth through whatever means they can.

“I don’t want us to miss out on the real purpose, which is celebrating, educating and understanding what the holiday is and what it means,” Bethely said.

“However you celebrate it, celebrate it.”