Collinsville closes streets for its 1st ever Juneteenth Parade and Festival (2024)

By Editor | June 24, 2024 | 0

By Devese “Dee” Ursery

dursery@timestribunenews.com

COLLINSVILLE — The Collinsville High School Black Student Union kicked off its fourth annual Juneteenth Festival with the first time addition of a parade to this year’s festivities.

The City of Collinsville shut down streets surrounding City Hall and other municipal buildings to make way for its first ever Juneteenth Parade. There were over 30 organizations who rode in the parade including the Collinsville Chamber of Commerce and the Collinsville Community Unit School District No.10.

The parade started on Hesperia and Main Streets, according to JoAnna Kelly, sponsor of the Black Student Union Club. It then traveled up Main and turned on Center Street. After that, the parade turned left on Clay Street and went back down to Hesperia and Main Streets ending up at Herald’s Square where the Juneteenth Festival was taking place.

“The parade was always something we wanted to add to our celebration, this year we finally had the opportunity to put one together,” Kelly said. “Our Grand Marshall is Commander Jesse Hoskins from the Collinsville American Legion.”

Kelly said that Hoskins, a Collinsville native is an African American male who has been the commander of the Collinsville American Legion for a few years. She said they do a lot of work with the Black Student Union as far as donating time and allowing club members to volunteer and use their facility to collect money for different fundraisers.

“This year we had the district (CUSD 10) and the Chamber of Commerce ride in our parade,” Kelly said. “We had several local restaurants and bars donate money to this event which is different from other years. We did get a few sponsors this year.”

Hundreds of visitors to the Festival looked at or purchased goods from over 20 vendors selling everything from food and jewelry to scented candles and t-shirts.

Some festival-goers said they only heard about the Juneteenth Festival the day of and decided to come down to see what it was about.

This event was a commemoration of Freedom Day and a celebration of the essence of the federal holiday, which is freedom. The Festival was a joyous occasion where diverse, like-minded people came together to celebrate and enjoy each other with good vibes, positive energy through food, music and live entertainment.

Musician and M.C. of the festivities Jay The Realest said that he was out there to celebrate Juneteenth and hopefully bring a closer bond to the different divided communities.

“This is something major. I’m old enough to know what happened in the past and I see where it’s going in the future and it’s looking way brighter than it did in the past. As long as we’re able to come together and bond… that’s what I’m about unity, peace and positive vibes, like I kept saying on the mic,” Jay The Realest said.

“You keep putting positive energy into the atmosphere, bro and what do you see out here, white people, black people, Mexicans, we all outside. That’s all I ask for, when I see my people happy, that’s what makes me happy, so Juneteenth to me is more than just the celebration of freedom, it’s a celebration of life.”

Lisa White of Edwardsville said that she was out at the festivities to celebrate history. She said that the support was ok, but it’s better than what her city is doing, which is nothing.

“I grew up here in Collinsville, so it’s a big leap from when I was a kid,” White said. “It’s all about spreading love.”

White said that Juneteenth as a whole means freedom or freeish. “The reason why I say freeish is because there’s still so much hate and racism in the world; it’s not gone all the way, but it’s -ish,” White continued.