Midwest City Hosts Second Annual Juneteenth Festival

This Saturday Juneteenth will be celebrated with festivals nationwide, including one at Regional Park in Midwest City.

“We have a true family event here, a family culture,” said Marcus Hayes with Midwest City’s Juneteenth Festival.

This is year two for Midwest City’s celebration after an overwhelming response last year.

“By all counts, they thought that we would have about four hundred people here, and we quadrupled that number and so we expect to do that again,” said Hayes.

There will be vendors and food trucks, as well as free carnival rides.

“We are going to have pony rides with horses and ponies, face painting of course,” said Hayes.

There will be live music, lots of dancing, and even some contests. “We are going to have a hula hoop contest, along with the Juneteenth pageant winners,” said Espy Bowen with Midwest City’s Juneteenth Festival.

With all the fun the organizers want to make sure the purpose of Juneteenth isn’t lost

“We’re also going to have speakers here to give the history of Juneteenth, how it first started, and how it came about,” said Bowen.

Lawn chairs and blankets are suggested, with extra incentives to come early.

“Free fish for the first four hundred attendees, that would like and prefer fish, we give them a ticket and they can eat that for free,” said Hayes.

Assuring this family event takes care of families.

“For people that may not have a lot of money, no one will come here and go hungry or go home and not eat because they don’t have any money,” said Hayes.

“Just come out and enjoy yourself and have fun and we are looking forward to seeing everyone out that day,” said Bowen.

The Midwest City Juneteenth Festival is Saturday, June 15, from 3:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Regional Park, at East Reno Avenue and Douglas Boulevard. Remember lawn chairs and blankets are encouraged. For more information about the festival visit their Facebook page @Juneteenth Midwest City.