City Commissioner Colin Sharman, who had strolled up and joined the mayor, added his thoughts on Juneteenth: “ Every member of the community has a God-given, unique ability, and when we recognize people for their individual strengths, we can come together as a team and be stronger together than apart. We don’t see the division; see the unity.”

City Commissioner Chloe Johnson, the only Black representative on the commission, later told VoxPopuli by text that Juneteenth “honors freedom and acknowledges our history,” when asked her thoughts about the holiday. She represents District 3, which includes East Winter Garden.

In prior years, Juneteenth celebrations had been held at the Mildred Dixon Community Center and the Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church where events had featured poetry recitations, speeches from local clergy and the late Pastor Anthony Hodge performing a searing “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 2024, the city dedicated the East Winter Garden park to Wilder, a former city commissioner and longtime advocate for the East Winter Garden community. Juneteenth events have been held there since.

This year’s community party featured games, overseen by high-schoolers accumulating volunteer hours, a selection of food vendors and exhibits from local nonprofits. The Winter Garden Heritage Museum's booth featured a special poster titled “Who Am I?” with several photographs of unknown people. The museum is asking for help from the community to identify the people in the photos. If you have information, please contact Museum Director Will McCoy at wmmcoy@wghf.org.

Alyssa, a recent transplant from California, was sitting under the big tent listening to the band play. She told VoxPopuli she came out to the event to “see what was going on, and how we’re celebrating Juneteenth.” Wearing a t-shirt that said, “celebrate freedom. eighteen sixty five.” she said that Juneteenth was important because “Black people are not totally free so it’s important to recognize that Black people are everywhere and come together and celebrate.”

Twelve-year-old Amerial was checking out the food options with her aunt and cousins. She said Juneteenth was important to her because it’s about “supporting Black people and it’s about their rights.”

The city celebration also drew two judicial candidates, campaigning in the Aug. 18 nonpartisan election: Attorney Steve Kerestes, who’s running for circuit court judge in the Ninth Circuit's Group 31, and Attorney Kafi Kennedy, running for county judge in Orange County Court's Group 5.  

Picking up his bagged barbecue chicken, Kerestes noted that Juneteenth is a “significant event that just celebrates the history of our country.”  

Kennedy, whose family showed out in her campaign's royal purple t-shirts, pushed her four-year-old Jaden in a stroller while her husband wrangled the family dog on a leash.

Asked about the day's importance, she said, “We are all about one America and to know the history that we come from and when everybody was finally free in America.”