By Gabe Thumm, The Daily Tar Heel | Jun 22, 2026 | City & State
Photo by Cassidy Toy Reynolds
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Juneteenth Celebration, a joint festival between the two towns, took place on Friday at the Hargraves Community Center. This event brought together musicians, poets, vendors and community members for hours spent dancing, singing and sharing.
Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day, is a commemoration of the emancipation of all enslaved people, marking the day enslaved people were released in Galveston Bay, Texas. Juneteenth was officially proclaimed by the Towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro on June 19, 2020, and was made a federal holiday in 2021.
The event started with speeches from Chapel Hill Mayor Pro Tem Camille Berry and Carrboro Mayor Barbara Foushee.
“Let us honor those who came before us,” Foushee said. “Let’s support those working for positive change today, and inspire future generations to continue building a more just and welcoming society.”
The next speaker was Carrboro’s ninth poet laureate, Amanda Bennett. She read two poems titled, “Long as the Land Holds” and “Freedom Rising.” She said her pieces experiment with language in a way that allows the listener to relax and be receptive to new ideas.
“I kind of structure my poems to be inviting in that way, to be able to have conversations around the way that this country has treated Black people, the ongoing struggle we have for equity and liberation and the fact that we’re all implicated in this war, people of all backgrounds,” Bennett said.
The stage schedule throughout the celebration included musician Tre. Charles, readings from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Poetic Justice League and line dancing instruction. A time slot and booths at the festival were dedicated to Divine Nine fraternities and sororities.
Vendor tents lined the field with art, jewelry and clothing displayed as festival-goers walked by. Swanda Warren, owner of EARresistible by SwansDesign, said events like this allow her to share who she is and how her creativity flows. She also said this celebration is a reminder of the importance of using love and grace in the face of adversity.
“Sometimes you have to educate people of where we come from and where we’re going, and that it’s a full movement,” Warren said.
N.C. Sen. Jonah Garson (D-Caswell, Orange, Person) attended the celebration and said the event being a partnership between Chapel Hill and Carrboro is fitting because of their histories and current commitments to building inclusive communities.
“In many respects, Chapel Hill and Carrboro are one community because of the racial dynamics of these places historically relative to one another,” he said.
Inside the Hargraves Community Center, the Chapel Hill Public Library had a table for book checkouts and library card signups, alongside a table by the library’s community history program. Community history coordinator Molly Luby said they brought materials that are from initiatives the program has led.
“Our purpose is to document and share untold, erased and historically excluded histories of Chapel Hill,” Luby said.
The exhibit in the community center also featured a screening of “Women in the Movement,” a mini-documentary featuring the women of Chapel Hill who fought for social change during the local civil rights movement.
Chapel Hill Community Arts & Culture special events coordinator Xavier Vallejo said this event is repeated from years past, but took roughly six months to prepare. He also said the general turnout of this event is 1,000 to 2,000 people, and this year’s iteration seemed on track to hit that goal.
Berry said this event showcases how there is no barrier between the neighboring communities.
“There may be property lines that say, ‘this is Chapel Hill, this is Carrboro,’ but we’re one big community, and we love celebrating this,” Berry said.