JuneteenthKC, Black businesses bake celebration of culture into holiday at 18th & Vine

Thousands descended on the 18th and Vine Jazz District Saturday for the 12th annual JuneteenthKC Heritage Festival, a celebration of the Juneteenth holiday that greeted attendees with vendor tents, food and drink and musical performances.

Shoppers, vendors and other event-goers line 18th Street during the 2023 JuneteenthKC Heritage Festival; photo by Matthew Gwin, Startland News

Makeda Peterson, program director for JuneteenthKC, described the weekend event as a celebration of the struggle for liberation and an opportunity for Black Americans to take pride in who they are, in spite — and because — of challenges they’ve overcome and those they continue to face.

“It’s really about recognizing African American culture and pride, and understanding this story about the struggle for freedom, especially from an African American perspective,” Peterson said.

Juneteenth also provides a chance to educate young people about their cultural heritage, Peterson said, and do so in a comfortable environment.

“The celebration is more than just a day of socialization,” Peterson said. “It’s really about ways you can connect to your community and finding ways to engage younger generations so that learning history is not so daunting or overwhelming. It can be done in a social setting so that you’re able to have very hard conversations in that family-style background.”

Makeda Peterson, JuneteenthKC

The educational and community-focused aspects are why Peterson led an effort to create JuneteenthKC, a nonprofit that provides programming year-round.

Peterson drew inspiration from her late father, Horace Peterson III, who founded the Black Archives of Mid-America and brought a Juneteenth event to Kansas City back in 1980.

She encouraged the community to stay involved, noting that the organization’s website features resources and information on how to remain connected.

JuneteenthKC also just launched a mobile app, according to Peterson, which she said will further those efforts.

“It takes continued education and continued engagement outside of just Juneteenth,” Peterson said. “It’s about finding ways to grow together 365 days a year.”

Phoenix Thompson, 2023 Miss Sweetest Peach; photo by Matthew Gwin, Startland News

Miss Sweetest Peach

One Black-owned business at Saturday’s heritage festival was joined by a special guest.

Sweet Peaches Cobblers welcomed Phoenix Thompson, the 2023 Miss Sweetest Peach winner from this year’s Miss JuneteenthKC pageant.

The pageant was organized in May for the second year, and Thompson was chosen by her peers as the contestant who best exemplified the values of unity, kindness, sisterhood, and peace.

The 16-year-old rising junior at Fort Osage High School said she tried to be uplifting to the other contestants despite feeling the stress of the competition.

“I’m very glad the other girls voted me Miss Sweetest Peach,” Thompson said. “It says a lot about my character, and that means a lot to me.”

Thompson said she works to make sure her friends always feel supported and that everyone she meets feels welcomed.

“I try to treat everyone with kindness, and be there as much as possible for my friends,” Thompson said. “I try to bring some of my friends together and just be welcoming to everyone around me so that everyone feels comfortable, and no one feels left out.”

Denisha Jones, CEO and owner of Sweet Peaches Cobblers, participated on the pageant’s advisory board this year after her daughter won Miss Unity in 2022, she shared.

This year, Miss JuneteenthKC decided to rename the Miss Unity award to Miss Sweetest Peach, Jones said.

“That’s what I promote; that’s what I stand for,” Jones said about unity. “Our motto is, ‘Everything here is sweeter,’ but we don’t just mean our products. We mean that in our customer service and the way we talk to people. I believe you get more things with sugar than salt.”

Jones described Thompson as having “a peaceful persona” and lauded her as a worthy representative of Miss Sweetest Peach and the values the title represents.

Moving forward, Thompson will have the opportunity to do some speaking engagements with other youth, according to Jones.

Thompson will also intern with Sweet Peaches Cobblers, Jones added, as well as receive mentorship from a local artist.

Deep Rooted clothing, one of the vendors represented at the 2023 JuneteenthKC Heritage Festival; photo by Matthew Gwin, Startland News

Deep Rooted clothing, one of the vendors represented at the 2023 JuneteenthKC Heritage Festival; photo by Matthew Gwin, Startland News

Click here to read more about Deep Rooted clothing and its expansion in Kansas City.

Underscoring unity

Echoing Peterson’s sentiments, Jones said that the spirit of Juneteenth — including the values of liberation, unity, celebration, and triumph over adversity — should be celebrated on more than just a single day.

Youth from the Kansas City Boys and the Kansas City Girls Choir perform during the 2023 JuneteenthKC Heritage Festival; photo by Matthew Gwin, Startland News

“You could definitely celebrate Juneteenth during the whole month of June, because that’s when families were being reunited [after the formal end of slavery in the U.S.],” Jones said.

In keeping with that, the theme of this year’s Miss JuneteenthKC pageant was “Homecoming,” Jones shared, noting that women were the last enslaved people to be set free.

To Thompson, Juneteenth represents freedom — both in terms of her ancestors’ freedom from slavery, and the freedom to keep pushing ahead today, she said.

“When the slaves found out that they were free, they could move forward and go on with their lives,” Thompson said. “I believe that it’s up to us now to know we can go forward, we can uplift each other, and we can be there for each other.”

Jones underscored the importance of unity, which she said can often be undervalued and in short supply.

“This event also represents unity,” Jones said. “It’s something to see us come together and not be so divided in a time like today. To have other cultures, ethnicities, and races come celebrate us as African Americans in the way we like to celebrate really means a lot.”