Burlington to host sixth annual Juneteenth celebration at North Park
Burlington’s sixth Juneteenth celebration filled North Park Ballfield with vendors, performances and a 7:45 p.m. Black Panther screening, all free to the public.
Burlington marked its sixth annual Juneteenth celebration Friday at North Park Ballfield, turning 817 Sharpe Road into a free public gathering built around history, music, food and civic participation. The 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. event drew community partners, local vendors and families into one outdoor space, a larger setting than the city’s 2025 celebration at the Mayco Bigelow Community Center at North Park.
The City of Burlington planned and sponsored the celebration with help from community partners including the Alamance Racial Equity Alliance and Impact Alamance. The program opened with community resource tables and vendors, then moved into a presentation by James Shields of the African American Cultural Arts & History Center on the history and importance of Juneteenth. City organizers framed the evening around education and community recognition, not just entertainment.
The schedule also blended performance and participation. IAMM Dance Company took the stage, and the North Park SOUL line-dance segment invited residents into the program rather than keeping them on the sidelines. Food vendors and an artisan market added to the atmosphere, while the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources listing said the event also included food trucks, artisan vendors and a youth art contest with a $100 prize for the top design.
A new movie-on-the-lawn feature capped the evening with an outdoor screening of Black Panther scheduled for 7:45 p.m. Attendees were asked to bring chairs for the film. The city also said winning artwork from its Juneteenth contest for middle and high school students would be displayed at the celebration, giving local students a visible role in the event.
Parking was split between limited handicapped spaces in the ballfield lot and general parking at the Mayco Bigelow Community Center, with shuttle service to North Park. Burlington Recreation & Parks said it hosts more than 20 large-scale events each year, and Juneteenth has become one of the clearest examples of how the city uses that calendar to bring residents, nonprofits, arts groups and service organizations together in a shared civic setting.
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