Juneteenth event at Cheapside Pavilion in Lexington on Friday

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – The public is invited to a communal healing drum circle at Cheapside Pavilion on Main Street in Lexington on Friday evening.

The event is scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m.  The location is significant because it was the hub for slave trade in the city before the Civil War.

Singers of spirituals and freedom movement songs are welcome to join as drummers.  Food will be provided by Centro as a food donation.

Organizers say people should wear face masks and practice social distancing.  Cooperation Lexington, Wild Fig Healing Collective and Juneteenth Lexington are organizing the event.

Prior to the communal healing drum circle, community members are invited to join elders in the black community at the African Cemetery on Seventh Street for an annual Juneteenth Jubilee at 7:00 p.m.

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States.  The holiday celebrates the date of June 19, 1865 when the federal orders of emancipation were read in Galveston, Texas.

For more information about the healing drum circle event, click here.