HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO YOU AND YOURS – Voice Of The Township

This month the Wayne Township Trustee Office is attending two events with our information booth; one is the annual Juneteenth celebration at Weisser Park and the other the second annual Father’s Day and Family Fair Celebration at McMillen Park Community Center.

You may be asking right now, “What is Juneteenth?” That would be understandable as it is a celebration that many people may not have heard about. In fact, Juneteenth commemorates the day that Texans, particularly African-American Texans, learned something they had not yet heard of: that slavery had been abolished. Even though President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves in the Confederate states on September 22, 1862 (to take effect January 1, 1863), the slaves in Texas—which was part of the confederacy—did not know about that decision until the Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865. That day, over two years after the official Proclamation, Union General Gordon Granger read aloud the general order announcing Lincoln’s decision to a joyous crowd. June 19th went down in history as “Juneteenth,” the day that many thousands of folks in bondage learned that they were, in fact, free.

In 1980 Texas became the first state to make Juneteenth an official holiday, and since then all but seven states have recognized it as a state holiday or day of observance.

Here in Fort Wayne there are two Juneteenth events I’m excited about. On Friday, June 19, at the Theater of the Main Branch of the Allen County Public Library, there will be a lecture by Dr. Edna Greene Medford, professor of history at Howard University, celebrating the 150th-year anniversary of Juneteenth. This event is free and open to the public.

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Then over the weekend, Weisser Park Youth Center/SBA Academy will host their annual three-day Juneteenth Celebration with lots of entertainment, sporting events, food, fun and free activities for all ages. The celebration runs from Saturday, June 20 through June 22 at Weisser Park, 802 Eckart St. For more information about the event, call (260) 427-6780.

On June 18th the Wayne Township Trustee Office brought our information booth to the second annual “Father’s Day and Family Fair” at the McMillen Park Community Center. This event was hosted by the Fort Wayne Housing Authority to celebrate families and fatherhood in our community. There was food, door prizes and lots of fun activities for children to kick off Father’s Day weekend in Fort Wayne.

As a father and grandfather myself, I am particularly pleased when our community celebrates family togetherness. I know how important it is for children to have a strong family to guide, support, and encourage them as they make their way through an often challenging world. Here at the Trustee’s office we often see the harm it does to people to be without such family support. Whether child or adult, we can all use a father-figure at some time in our life. So, let me be the first to say “Happy Father’s Day” to you and yours, and I hope to see you this weekend at a Juneteenth Celebration at the library and/or in Weisser Park.