LYNNWOOD, Wash., June 19, 2024—Project Girl hosted its second annual Juneteenth celebration at Cedar Valley Community School in Lynnwood on Wednesday, June 19, to commemorate the day the last remaining people in the United States were freed from the evil of slavery and servitude.
The event held approximately 60 vendors, food trucks, live music by the Soul Jambalaya band, performances by the Meadowdale Step Team, DJ Amber Love, and Daughters of Royalty from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.
Organizations with booths include, but are not limited to, Edmonds School District, Sno-Isle Libraries, CASA, Verdant Health, Lynnwood Police Department, and South County Fire.
All the vendors were primarily Black-owned businesses who were not required to pay a vendor fee. In other words, they were able to take home 100% of the profits from whatever they made at Wednesday’s celebration.
“Since Juneteenth is about celebrating Black history, and American history really, so I really wanted to showcase organizations that highlight Black and Brown people,” Project Girl CEO Olympia Edwards informed the Lynnwood Times. “It’s supporting community, that’s what it’s all about.”
This year Lynnwood’s Juneteenth celebration focused on having more free opportunities for attendees such as Verdant Health giving out gift cards, arts and crafts for kids, and the Lynnwood Food bank handing out food donations.
The event was emceed by Dr. Margaret Towolawl, a physician who owns and operates Nurture Well Center in Shoreline. Dr. Towolawl sits on the Project Girl Mentoring program and was asked by Project Girl CEO Olympia Edwards to emcee Wednesday’s event to focus on the importance of community and health and wellness.
“I’m here representing the whole community. It’s really important as a Black provider to let people know I’m here promoting health and wellness,” Dr. Towolawl told the Lynnwood Times. “Juneteenth is all about freedom, not only free from being enslaved but also celebrating that we have our own minds, free bodies, we can vote, we can exercise ourselves in the way we want to. It’s a free country and it’s really taking pride in that.”
Dr. Towolawl’s practice had a booth at Wednesdays event offering health tips to the Black community to assist the community in making better food choices and eating more plant-based foods.
To kick off Wednesday’s celebration Lynnwood Mayor Christine Frizzell took the podium to share a few words following Cedar Valley Counselor Latecia Williams and Mountlake Terrace City Councilman Dr. Steve Woodard who spoke about the importance of community and activism.
“We need as non-BIPOC people to understand what other people have gone through in their lives. We need to stay in the conversation, maybe we’re out at a restaurant with friend or family and they say something that denigrates another culture, we need to stand up and say that’s not right and maybe by educating someone else we can continue to build community in a positive way,” said Lynnwood Mayor Christine Frizzell.
Mayor Frizzell was followed by Washington State Representative Rick Larsen (D-02) who reminded the audience that Juneteenth is a “day of reflection because freedom and opportunity for Black Americans did not magically happen” when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation or when Major General Gordon Granger issued general order number Three in Galveston Texas in June 1865.
“The history of construction in the civil rights era is a difficult era to learn about but it’s important that we learn about that history and it’s absolutely necessary that we learn that we understand and remember,” said Larsen.
Rep. Larsen reminded the crowd that even today, in 2024, congress is having debates on confederate symbols, streets named after confederate generals, confederate statues, and their place in national cemeteries and public buildings. He added that even today it’s important to learn from other people’s lived experiences and to learn from them.
“Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom and opportunity. It’s also a time to reflect on how much more we need to do, and Juneteenth is a reminder that we still need to take action on what still needs to be done,” Rep. Larsen told the Lynnwood Times. “Today, right now, a day like this is a great way to celebrate the Emancipation Proclamation coming to life in Lynnwood but tomorrow is what do we do next?”
Following Rep. Larsen, Edmonds School Board Director Carin Chase pledged the District’s continued commitment to address institutional racism within the district and institute, promising to listen to Black students and families on how the District can do better in this effort.
Guest speaker Mary Anderson, attorney with the Guidance of Justice law group and candidate for Snohomish County Superior Court Judge, was next to speak highlighting the importance of voting locally by reminding the public that, despite the 14th and 15th amendments being passed in 1868 and 1870, respectively—which protected under law that all men were created equal and forbade states from denying the right to vote based on color—many Black Americans were barred from the voting process through intimidation, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses until a group of Black Panthers stood on the steps of the state capitol in Olympia championing for the federal government to take over voting rights in 1965.
“If the people who are being elected do not fit your values we need to stand up as one and go ahead and vote,” said Anderson. “Voting matters…we now have the right to vote and I’m so, so, proud of it so I always vote.”
Anderson left the crowd with two principles that she lives by; first, when someone shows you who they are believe them the first time, and when you learn, teach, and when you know better – do better.
Anderson will be speaking about her platform at three upcoming events: at Project Girl Mentoring in Lynnwood on Wednesday, June 26, at 4:30 to 6 p.m., at Luna Mexican Grill in Everett on July 17, from 6 p.m. until 7:30 p.m., and Everett Public Library Evergreen Branch in Everett, on Wednesday, August 14, from 5 p.m. until 6:30 p.m.
Also in attendance at Wednesday’s celebration was Lynnwood City Council members David Parshall and Joshua Binda.
“This is a significant moment for our community, having come out and celebrate. It’s important to continue to push progress and I’m glad that we had a good turnout and have the community show up here,” Councilman Binda told the Lynnwood Times.
This is the fourth year Juneteenth has been recognized as a federal holiday and the second year Juneteenth has been recognized as a state holiday in Washington, following State Rep. Melanie Morgan sponsoring of House Bill 1016 which went into effect in 2022.
2024 marks 159 years since the news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached the deepest parts of the former confederacy. Black Americans have been celebrating Juneteenth for generations, but the first recorded celebration of Juneteenth in the Pacific Northwest was in Kent, Washington, in 1890.
Juneteenth dates to 1865 when, on June 19, Union soldiers led by Major General Gordon Granger arrived at Galveston, Texas with news of the end of the Civil War and that the slaves were free known as General Order Number 3. This news was two-and-a-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, which didn’t impact Texas since there were very few Union soldiers to enforce the proclamation.
General Order Number 3, reads as follows:
“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property, between former masters and slaves and the connection heretofore existing between them, becomes that between employer and hired labor. The Freedmen are advised to remain at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts; and they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”
The surrender of General Lee in April of 1865 coupled with the arrival of Granger and his regiment finally provided the influence necessary to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation.
Juneteenth became a federal holiday on June 17, 2021, and the first known official movement to make Juneteenth a federal holiday began in 1994. All 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia recognize Juneteenth either as a state holiday, a ceremonial holiday, or a day of observance.
