SARASOTA (WSNN) – Juneteenth celebrations continue on the Suncoast.
It’s an annual holiday celebrating the last day slaves in this country learned they were free, two and a half years after the emancipation proclamation.
A group of people came together to start an event in Sarasota after years of no celebration. Co-organizer, Mac Gaudin says about 200 to 300 people celebrated on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Sarasota on Saturday.
Many vendors participated from offering jewelry, shoes, food, drinks and more.
“Dr. Martin Luther King once famously said, ‘Until we all are free, none of us are free,'” Gaudin said. “Juneteenth is known as freedom day, and honestly, the theme of unity, we’re trying to showcase that at a higher level. I think Juneteenth signifies unity and it signifies us coming together in freedom, in peace, in love and community.”
With this resurgence of Juneteenth celebrations on the Suncoast, Gaudin says they’re going to make sure going forward, they always do something in the community.
