FayToday News

Cool Spring Downtown District Organizing Inaugural Juneteenth Jubilee

Juneteenth Freedom Festival to Include Two-Day Downtown Celebration 

Fayetteville, N.C. – Cool Spring Downtown District (CSDD), Circa 1865, and Cumulus Media have partnered to organize and curate the inaugural Juneteenth Jubilee and Praise Party in the Park – A Juneteenth Celebration, on behalf of the City of Fayetteville.

The Juneteenth Jubilee will kick off in the heart of downtown on Sat., June 18, 2022, with a full-day street festival featuring multiple nationally touring headliners, local musical acts, other performances, food trucks, small-business and corporate vendors, artists and artisans, and more.

CSDD and Circa 1865 will host the Juneteenth Jubilee Heritage Brunch, a ticketed event, on Sun., June 19, 2022. The event will showcase Black chefs and culinary students serving a brunch menu that features heritage-worthy, southern Black cuisine while light entertainment plays in the background.

The featured keynote speaker at the brunch is Jaki Shelton Green, North Carolina’s ninth Poet Laureate. Green is known to be the first Black Poet Laureate in the state and the third woman to ever hold the role.

While the nationally touring headliners for the street festival will be announced later this month, CSDD’s Director of Special Projects, Ashanti B ennett, describes the uniqueness of this event: “From the beginning, we at Cool Spring have been focused on creating a joyful, respectful, and inclusive celebration to uplift this most American of holidays.”

Elaborating on the significance of this holiday, Bennett shares, “The imperative to honor the story of endurance and resilience of Black Americans, from Emancipation to Reclamation, is clear. We aspire to do so by focusing on the joy of Black culture and sharing that with our entire community in jubilee fashion. It is an honor to be able to play a role in preserving and advancing Juneteenth traditions, new and old, for our city.”

This will be the fourth year the Juneteenth Freedom Festival has been held in Cumberland County, and this year’s festival will take place over the course of four days at multiple venues around the county, including the Town of S pring Lake. Learn more about all the festivities here.

One of Circa 1865’s board members, Tyrrel Walker, serves as the executive coordinator of the Juneteenth Freedom Festiv al, and along with other Circa board members, he has been assisting Cool Spring in planning and curating downtown’s own two-day event.

“Along with Cool Spring Downtown District, Circa 1865 has worked long and hard to put together a historic celebration that our community can be proud of,” Walker shares. “Expect a bunch of family fun, laughter, friendship, great music, good times, and an amazing opportunity to create some memories while we celebrate freedom as a unified community.”

Immediately following the Juneteenth Heritage Brunch, Magic 106.9 Radio Station and the City of Fayetteville kick off Praise Party in the Park – A Juneteenth Celebratio n on June 19, 2022, at Festival Park from 12 pm to 6 pm as the final event of the countywide Juneteenth Freedom Festival. Praise Party, a free event, will be hosted by Magic 106.9’s Alysse Stewart, with headliner, three-time Grammy-award winner gospel singer Donnie McClurkin ending the evening.

CSDD is now accepting applications from interested parties to become an event vendor, performer, or volunteer. To learn more about a variety of sponsorship opportunities, email info@coolspringfay .org.

Visitors to and residents of Cumberland County may follow CSDD’s efforts and announcements on their website at: visitdowntownfayetteville.com, or

on Facebook @CoolSpringFAY.org or @downto wnfayetteville
on Instagram at @coolspringdowntowndistrict or @downtownfay.