The Juneteenth Freedom Festival, open to “black, yellow, white and brown,” according to one of its sponsors, keeps getting bigger and better. This year the three-day event begins 7 – 9:30 p.m.  Thursday, June 16, with an evening of fine dining, music and entertainment to honor the 2022 Juneteenth Black Excellence Award nominees and scholarship recipients. This event will be held at the Historic Calcasieu Marine Bank building at 844 Ryan St. Guest speaker is Louisiana State Representative Vincent J. Pierre. Semi-formal attire is required. Tickets are $100.

Rev. Henry Mancuso, Clyde Mitchell, Veronica Noel, Angelica Scott and Linda E. Holmes selected the following honorees: Tennille Handy, healthcare; Tony Johnson, education; Makeitta Darbonne Citizen, community service; Judge Charlotte Bushnell, justice and Gladys McKnight, music.

It seemed that fate conspired to get McKnight, a Mississippi native, to Lake Charles back when a two-bedroom apartment rented for $185, $25 in groceries could last all month and a tank of gas was $5.

“Of course, my check from the Calcasieu Parish School Board for the month was a little less than $500,” she said.

She was young

“When I was at Sam Houston, the middle school students accused me of preferring the high school students because I took them on trips,” she said.

So she packed sandwiches, drinks and took middle schoolers to the Lake Charles beach for a picnic, instructing them that they could not go in the water.

“I looked up and they were all in the water,” she said with a chuckle. “My mother told me I ought to have known better, but I didn’t. I took a high school group to Orlando for a concert and they did the same. I was 23.”

She taught for 46 years, and while she never married or had children, she considers her students through the years as family.

“There’s not a day goes by that I don’t hear from one of my past students,” she said.

She said she is honored to receive recognition for her contributions as part of a Juneteenth event and remembers her parents, both educators, saying that the Fourth of July celebration did not mark independence for their family, as slavery was legal in all 13 colonies in 1776.

2022 high school senior scholarship recipients are Levi LeJeune, and Kallie Pitre, Allen Parish; Alonnie Celestine and Mattie Duhon, Calcasieu Parish; Ivian Taboada Fuentes and Jordan McDaniel, Lafayette Parish.

Big band and the attire of yesterday

Step back in time to the music and dancing of the big band sound of the Cotton Club era Friday, June 17, 8 p.m. to midnight. Come to the Paramount Room, 822 Ryan St., dressed in vintage attire from any era, spanding from the 1920s to the 1950s. Music will be provided by Jarvis Jacobs and the Gents & Songstress Leah NiCollette. Tickets are $35.

Something for everyone

On June 18, free dental screenings and cleanings will be available at the SWLA Center for Health Services location at 2000 Opelousas St. Local vendors will also be in attendance, providing patients with information and giveaways. In addition to dental services, SWLA Center for Health Services will also be providing blood pressure checks, COVID-19 vaccines and glucose testing.

About midday, the festival commences at the Lake Charles Civic Center grounds, 900 Lakeshore Dr.

“In addition to the food trucks and other vendors, we’ll have dance performances, spoken word and musical performances, said Roishetta Ozane. Her nonprofit organization, Vessel Project, is a sponsor for the Kids Zone. “We’ll have bouncy houses, craft tables and face painting. At 3 p.m., we’ll have a family movie at the Lake Charles Amphitheatre and afterward, at dusk, we’re planning a fireworks show that will surpass last year’s.”

All midday events are free, excluding purchases made from vendors, and open to the public.

For Ozane, Juneteenth is not so much a celebration as a commemoration. Juneteenth is the combination of the words June and 19th and refers to what happened in Galveston in 1865. Two-and-a-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1862, federal troops arrived in Galveston to announce the abolishment of slavery.

“It’s important that we continue to tell their story and mark the significant date in the history and culture of our people,” she said.

Juneteenth was recognized as a federal and state holiday last year, June 2021.

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Visit www.swlahealth.org to find out more about the three-day Southwest Louisiana event or to purchase tickets for Thursday, June 16 or Friday, June 17.