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The sky was gray and thunder could be heard in the distance, but that didn’t stop the community from coming out and supporting the Hamblen County Juneteenth Celebration Monday.

Hundreds of community members gathered at the Downtown Farmers Market to celebrate the holiday honoring the day slaves were freed.

Dr. Alpha Alexander, Morristown Task Force on Diversity chair, reflected on the success of the event.

“It reminded me of the MLK Breakfast we had a few years back where we were hit with an ice storm and it almost hindered our event,” Alexander said. “I was really nervous about the Juneteenth event but we decided to go ahead with it and at first we only had a few people come out.”

“For me sitting there in the pouring rain I thought this was going to be a repeat. However as the event progressed the sun came out and then the people came out.”

“We had a beautiful crowd and the community supported it and last night I was sitting at home and I was a very happy camper.”

The event was hosted on the green from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and included more than 40 vendors, food trucks and spectacular live performances.

Chris Blue rocked the crowd with his rendition of Its Man’s Man’s World by James Brown.

The Drums Up, Guns Down dancers, who also performed at last year’s celebration, brought out their drums and danced in the crowd.

“Our entertainment was top notch this year from the Drums Up, Guns Down dancers to Chris Blue giving a great performance,” Alexander said.

As she looks forward to next year’s event she hopes to bring in younger performers to share the talents in the community.

“I would like to see more local youth and innovative performances held at the event,” she said. “I think we had a great year and we plan to make it bigger and better.”

Alexander thanks the community for coming together and supporting the Juneteenth Celebration.

“2023 was a big hit and I thank the community for coming out to learn what June 19th is really about and I can see our community uniting and growing stronger together.”

June 19 is a federal holiday that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans, it is celebrated on the anniversary of the order, issued by Major General Gordon Granger on June 19, 1865, proclaiming freedom for slaves in Texas.

Nearly two years after President Abraham Lincoln emancipated enslaved Africans in America, more than 250,000 African Americans embraced freedom by executive decree in what became known as Juneteenth.

Another important date for Tennesseans is August 8, the day in the year 1863 Tennessee Military Governor Andrew Johnson freed enslaved people.