People celebrate Juneteenth early in Lexington

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ)- People in Lexington held a celebration today in honor of the upcoming Juneteenth holiday.

Dozens of people gathered in isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden to celebrate the holiday which commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S.

The theme this year was ‘Wakanda’ after the fictional country in the movie ‘Black Panther’.

It promoted a way to celebrate black joy, black power, black liberation, black healing, black love and community.

People enjoyed local food, vendors and music but organizers say the main goal of the celebration is to bring awareness to the issues related to slaver that still persist.

“Because I think there are a lot of us who understand that when we are still getting shot dead in the street by police, it’s not the strange fruit hanging from southern trees but it still exists and so we need to recognize where we’ve come from but also the things that we still need to accomplish in achieving total liberation,” said Sarah Williams, organizer of the Juneteenth celebration

The official Juneteenth holiday is this Tuesday, June 19th.