AUSTIN (KXAN) — Organizers with an east Austin Juneteenth celebration say they need more help to maintain the event this year.
The legacy celebration hosted by the Greater East Austin Youth Association (GEAYA) gets support from the City of Austin, but its group leaders said it’s still been difficult for them as demographics change with fewer Black people living in Austin.
With more people moving out of Austin to surrounding cities, there are now more smaller Juneteenth celebrations happening in those communities.
In Rosewood Park, the Juneteenth celebration is like a big family reunion in east Austin, with a parade, live music and food where most of the city’s Black population used to live, organizers said.
“This is where it started,” longtime Austinite Lee Dawson said.
For generations, Dawson said he and his family have been celebrating Juneteenth. It’s now a federally recognized holiday commemorating the day Texas slaves learned about emancipation in America.
A lot has changed since GEAYA started hosting the Juneteenth Parade and Festival more than 20 years ago. The City of Austin is an in-kind sponsor doing a number of things to make hosting the event more affordable, like waiving event, parking and safety personnel fees. As time passes, maintaining the Juneteenth parade and celebration is getting more difficult to coordinate.
“As people who look like me move to surrounding cities, that spreads out our attendance of this event to cities where those folks live,” Shanisa Johnson, GEAYA public relations coordinator, said.
Round Rock and Buda have their own, smaller Juneteenth celebrations now.
“It’s not a competition, but I would underscore the importance and significance of keeping the Juneteenth celebration alive, where we have the deepest roots in this city,” Johnson said.
According to Johnson, GEAYA has nine sponsors for the $75,000 event. Johnson said they had 10 last year. She hopes that number doesn’t continue to decline.
GEAYA is still set for this year’s celebration, with help from the community.
“We know that gentrification has pushed a lot of people out of east Austin…if you want to see some of the things that’s happening here and in east Austin, it’s time to come back and see,” Dawson said.
The celebration will start with a parade from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, June 15. Afterward, there will a festival in Rosewood Park from noon to 9 p.m.
GEAYA is accepting sponsors and donors for the event on its website.