Elon plans first Juneteenth celebration at Lawrence Slade Park

Elon is bringing its first Juneteenth celebration to Lawrence Slade Park, where town departments will join a free community gathering from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 19. The event is set to include guest speaker Reverend Rickiah Wingfield of Elon First Baptist Church, along with food, music, games and activities for all ages.

The town’s decision to center the holiday at Lawrence Slade Park gives the observance a distinctly local meaning. Slade Park sits near downtown Elon and already functions as a civic gathering place, with a playground, tot lot, 1/4-mile paved trail, basketball court, bocce courts, cornhole boards, open picnic areas, rentable shelters and a Harmony Musical Playground. By placing Juneteenth there, the town is tying a national commemoration to a space built for public use, family activity and neighborhood connection.

Juneteenth is the federal holiday observed on June 19 and marks the end of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger announced in Galveston, Texas, that enslaved people were free, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. In Elon, the holiday has already been formally recognized in town proclamations in both 2024 and 2025, signaling that this year’s park celebration is part of a growing public acknowledgment rather than a one-time event.

The setting also reflects the history of the park’s namesake. Lawrence Slade opened his barber shop on Rauhut Street in 1977, later served 20 years on the Elon Town Council, and became the town’s longest-serving alderman. Elon University sources describe him as a leader whose public service extended through First Baptist Church, the NAACP, the Alamance Racial Equity Alliance and the Alamance County Human Relations Commission. Naming a Juneteenth celebration for Slade’s park places the holiday in direct conversation with Black civic leadership in Elon.

Wingfield’s role carries its own local significance. During Elon’s 2024 Juneteenth coverage, she spoke about initially hesitating to address race and said she had only recently begun celebrating Juneteenth. Her return as guest speaker gives the town a voice that connects the holiday’s history with the lived experience of learning it more fully. That blend of education, remembrance and participation is likely to define the evening.

Elon Recreation & Parks lists the celebration as a department program, and the participation of Elon Police and Elon Fire puts multiple town agencies in the same public space. The result is more than a festival listing. It is Elon using one of its most visible parks, and one of its most historically resonant names, to mark Juneteenth as part of the town’s civic identity.