GREEN BAY – Artists, local business owners and community members gathered at Joannes Park in Green Bay on Saturday for the fifth annual Juneteenth celebration hosted by We All Rise, African American Resource Center.

Music and the smell of food grilling filled the air as families of all backgrounds came together to celebrate the holiday, which commemorates the anniversary of when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to free the last enslaved people on June 19, 1865.

This year’s theme, “Black men are caregivers,” shined a spotlight on the impact that local Black men have on their community and emphasized the importance of Black mental health, according to Robin Scott, executive director of We All Rise.

“The hope is that we can create a restorative community for them to heal,” said Scott.

We All Rise asked community members to nominate local Black men who are leaders and caregivers, said Scott. In front of the main stage, signs with the community nominees were displayed to honor their work and their impact. Additionally, signs with Black historical figures were displayed throughout Joannes Park to educate community members on the leaders who came before them.

Delorean Walls, a community nominee and a leader of Brothers Helping Brothers of Wisconsin, puts an emphasis on self-care and men’s mental health. He said he’s honored to have been nominated and hopes to see other community members nominated in the coming years.

“To see these 24 men up here, including myself, we really have to dig deep and understand that there’s men behind those men. Because you have to connect yourself with wise counsel … we’re all one community,” said Walls. “I just wanted to give honor to those brothers that’s not up here today … I hope next year, we can have a big billboard of every man stepping up and doing what they’ve been called to do, with their purpose within our community.”

Khalil King, a local entrepreneur and one of the community nominees, says he was grateful to be recognized as a leader, but recognition is never his goal. His goal is to encourage the younger members of the community to follow their passions and start businesses that are assets to the local community and beyond.

“There’s not enough young entrepreneurs. That’s another thing I wanted to let them know. Don’t wait to get in your 30s and your mid 30s and say, ‘oh, I want to go into business for myself.’ Now is the time,” said King. “I don’t care if it’s a lemonade stand … There’s a lot of different ways to make residual income. It’s just, you have to be willing to do it, and you have to be open minded.”

Black-owned businesses highlighted at the celebration

We All Rise originally had 60 vendors registered to attend the celebration, but in the days leading up to the event, that number rose to 90, according to event organizers.

Amy Woods attended the Juneteenth celebration as a vendor. She was there promoting her husband Josh Woods’ holistic skin care brand − Favoryt.

“This is probably the most diverse group of vendors I’ve seen in terms of offerings. And so, I think it just highlights the amount of talent that is in this area, that people might not be exposed to normally,” said Woods. “It’s a great platform for businesses to get out in the community and share more about what they’re doing.”

Woods says that she and her husband attend events as vendors year-round, but the Juneteenth celebration is particularly important to them because they are among community members who are both family and friends, while also being able to connect with new groups of people who are interested in their business.

Kristyl E. Thomas, a doula, writer and social entrepreneur, was another vendor at the Juneteenth celebration. She said that attending the event as a vendor has helped to boost her sales and given her a sense of accomplishment as community members come by to connect with her business.

Uplifting the arts at the Juneteenth celebration

Baptiste Paul, an author of children’s books, had a similar experience to Thomas. He was able to connect with the Green Bay community and share his art at the event.

Paul grew up in St. Lucia in the Carribean, but he travels around the world to do research on different cultures. He uses what he learns through his travels to write children’s books, to educate them about other cultures.

The Juneteenth event has helped connect Paul to local teachers and librarians, who invited him to come into their schools and give presentations to their students.

“I want the Black and brown kids who are here to be able to see people like me, who are successful at doing something that we thought many years ago that we could not do,” Paul said. “They can see me as a Black man being an author, so that’s going to motivate them to be an author as well.”

A 25-year-old local artist and entrepreneur, Alexsis Manns, was also able to share her artwork with the Green Bay community at the Juneteenth celebration. She says that being an artist and a vendor at the Juneteenth event makes her feel like she’s doing her part for the community while promoting her artwork.

“My mom is an entrepreneur, so I learned a lot of stuff from her,” Manns said. “I feel like being here is growing my business tremendously because my art kind of speaks for itself, but I love being out here and making connections.”

Beyond the vendors at the celebration, musicians and dance groups from across the state of Wisconsin were brought in to perform. Britney Freeman-Farr, or B~Free as she is known on stage, is a Milwaukee-based musician who performed at the event.

“It really means a lot to me to be able to tap in with things like this,” she said. “I have such a strong appreciation for my culture … And the fact that I’m doing it in a city outside of my own, makes it even more special to me, because it doesn’t matter where we’re from. We all have that same source of love and same source of connectedness and oneness that we come forward for today.”

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Juneteenth celebration held at Joannes Park in Green Bay