J’ville to celebrate Juneteenth

The Jacksonville community’s annual Juneteenth parade and celebration will be held Saturday, June 22.

M.B. Davis and Park drives (next to Lincoln Park), between Holloway and H.V. Jones and Coleman avenues will be closed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for the parade and holiday festivities, sponsored by the Juneteenth Revitalization Committee.

The public is encouraged to attend.

The parade starts at 9:30 a.m. and will travel from the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Lawrence Street; proceed north on MLK, before making a right onto Lincoln, a left on Sheridan, a right on Looney, a left on Benson, a right on Churchill, a left on Columbia, a left on Holloway, a left on Rosalee Street, a right on Churchill, a right on Benson, a left on Davis, and a left on M.B. Davis/Park Drive to end at Lincoln Park.

The celebrations at Lincoln Park include free food, a car show, a horse show, pickup volleyball games, and will wrap up in the early evening.

To participate, call Billy Redd (903) 721-5721.

The Cherokee Brotherhood Association along with the Texas Informer newspaper and the city of Rusk held a parade and picnic in Rusk on Saturday, June 15.

Participating in that parade were the Rusk and Gallatin fire departments, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, the Rusk Police Department, Cherokee County District Attorney Elmer Beckworth, Cherokee County Attorney Dana Young, Mt. Olive Baptist Church, Mt. Pleasant CME Church, Woodville CME Church, Rusk Mayor Angela Raibron and Councilman Walter Session and the Waggoner family. Grand Marshal was Mattie Mae Shepherd.