A roller-skating dance performance will be among the activities at the Melrose Trading Post Juneteenth celebration on June 19. (photo courtesy of Thao Tran)

Juneteenth was named a federal holiday last year, 156 years after the day enslaved Texans were proclaimed free by Union Army Gen. Gordon Granger.

June 19, 1865, has been known by a few names, including “Freedom Day” and “Black Independence Day,” but Juneteenth is the name that stuck, and with the holiday now nationally recognized, celebrations are popping up throughout Los Angeles.

Among them is the inaugural event put together by the Greenway Arts Alliance, which operates the Melrose Trading Post, and the Mid City West Neighborhood Council. The Melrose Trading Post is a community-based nonprofit benefitting Fairfax High School that hosts a wide range of booths with goods, arts, crafts and antiques every Sunday.

“Juneteenth represents how freedom and justice in the U.S. has always been delayed for Black people,” said Mid City West board member Sara Griebe, who serves of the organization’s Social and Racial Equity Committee. “The day has always been celebrated in the Black community, but including all people in the holiday reminds everyone that while progress has been made in Black America’s 150 years out of bondage, considerable barriers continue to impede that progress. Juneteenth is a moment where we step back and try to understand the concept of freedom through the eyes of Black people. Through the holiday, we can begin to examine, acknowledge, and address all of the issues, past and present, tied up in the issue of slavery. At [Melrose Trading Post], we plan to honor the liberation and resilience of Black Americans through art created by Black Angelenos, be it through spoken word, dance [and] music.”

“This is what the Trading Post does,” co-artistic director of the Greenway Arts Alliance Pierson Blaetz said. “This is exactly what we do in terms of looking for opportunities to bring people together in community about stuff we care about. We do it inside the theater, we do it at the Trading Post, we do it at our institute at the high school, but this is what we do. We build community, and Juneteenth is a good reason to do it.”

“It is an excellent community driven and supported arts and cultural program,” said James Panozzo, a Mid City West board member and the founder and executive director of LAUNCH LA, a local nonprofit group that has helped to organize the event. “[It is] a great way to build community and for us all to share a wonderful experience.”

The festivities will kick off at the Melrose Trading Post at 10 a.m. on June 19, one hour after it opens.

A variety of acts will appear on the main stage at the event, with musical performances by Samiere, Kayalyst and Sydney Ranee, as well as poetry performances by Lynda La Rose, AKold Piece and Pam Ward. La Rose and the Mid City West council members will serve as emcees. The main stage will run continuously between 10:45 a.m. and 4:30 p.m and will feature a roller-skating, dance performance by former DiscOasis cast members Wendell Phipps, Preshous Jordan, Josiah Bishop and Victoria Estrada.

“I’m in the roller-skating community, and so I reached out to some friends of mine who I used to work with and asked them if they were interested in highlighting their talents at our Juneteenth celebration,” Thao Tran, chair of the Mid City West Public Safety and Well-Being committee, said. “I was so happy that they obliged.”

Special booths will include live painting by artists Devin Wesley, a pop-up bookshop by the Eclectuals, the Black World Stage Press Poets + Authors and the Girl Scouts for Black Lives art walk and fundraising popup.

A Juneteenth art gallery, curated by artist Alessa Willis, will feature art by Willis, Patty Phillips, Shannon Camille, Jazzika Dunn aka E Kile Arts, Kiohanna Brown, Michael G. Simpson and Joey Lopez.

Jackson emphasized that the holiday is important for all people to recognize, regardless of race, in honor of Black culture.

“The Melrose Trading Post and the Greenway Arts Alliance is a very diverse area for people to matriculate and interact with each other,” said Natalie Iturbe Jackson, special events and marketing manager for the Melrose Trading Post. “I understand the importance of highlighting everyone in some way. I think our community does that well, and I think we also recognize the struggles and the tragedies that have happened in the last couple of years. We want to celebrate the good and the joy and the resilience in the people that are here to be part of our community. It is an open-door invitation for everyone to come enjoy the culture that is here. And to really appreciate and support small businesses of this culture that is part of our community.”

“If it’s an important celebration to you, then it’s an important celebration to me,” Tran said. “And I’m showing you that it is important by showing up.”

Anyone interested in partnering with the Greenway Arts Alliance can email Jackson at natalie@greenwayarts.org.

The Melrose Trading Post is located on the campus of Fairfax High School at 7850 Melrose Ave.