Community members gather on Sunday, June 19 at Fort Ethan Allen Park in Essex for a commemoration of Juneteenth.

Noah Lafaso

ESSEX — Locals joined people from across the state on Sunday at Fort Ethan Allen, once home to the all-Black Buffalo Soldiers cavalry unit, to celebrate Black history and culture.

The event was coordinated by the Town of Essex and commemorated Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Texas first heard news of their emancipation. The day has since become a holiday across the south, and last year President Joe Biden declared it a federal holiday.

“It’s important that on Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, we think about what it takes to get to a point of freedom and what the emancipation promise of Juneteenth really means,” the event’s keynote speaker and congressional candidate Sianay Clifford said

Clifford was one of several speakers and artists from around Vermont who spoke at the event. Spoken word poet Rajnii Eddins and multi-talented artist Toussaint St. Negritude also performed music and poetry for the crowd.

Attendees read quotes and short bios of prominent Black historical figures — Barack Obama, Katherine Johnson and Sarah Boone — while local businesses offered free food during the event: honey maple glazed cornbread, ice cream and custom Juneteenth cookies.

But the festivities almost didn’t happen.

Owiso Makuku, the lead organizer behind Essex’s first Juneteenth event last year, recently stepped down as the town’s community development director to become CEO of Main Street Landing.

Others had to find a way to continue her legacy. Folks were worried at first.

“I was sitting in my house thinking, ‘Oh, my goodness, it’s so hard to create an event and start it. If we don’t keep the traction and have it again, that won’t be good,’” Essex Junction resident and organizer Annie Cooper said.

She sent a flurry of emails to town and state officials: “Is Juneteenth happening?”

Through their efforts, and with the help of Town Manager Greg Duggan, the group kept Juneteenth in Essex.

“I think it’s a really great educational opportunity,” said state Rep. Rey Garafano (D-Essex) who helped the effort. “There’s a lot of people who mentioned today they didn’t hear about any of this in grade school or even college.”

The event closed with a celebration of Makuku’s contribution to Essex’s new tradition, and she reflected on what drove her to bring Juneteenth to her town.

“After George Floyd was murdered, and shortly thereafter, a bunch of other Black people were killed in police shootings,” she said. “It just sort of struck me that the only times people were coming together about people of color were when there were tragedies.”

Juneteenth, she said, was an opportunity to celebrate something positive.

“To see yourself reflected positively in a community, as opposed to a victim, or as someone who needs help, or an other, is a really amazing thing,” Makuku said.