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Lee Van Roth's Feature Article: Ypsi Juneteenth celebration returns for sixth year
Ypsilanti's Annual Juneteenth Celebration
Transcription:
Lee Van Roth: You're listening to 89.1 WEMU. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. Juneteenth serves as both a celebration of freedom and a reflection on the ongoing pursuit of equality. And in Ypsilanti, that celebration has grown into a three-day community event featuring live entertainment, food, family activities, and cultural programming. Ypsi's sixth annual Juneteenth celebration will take place June 19th through the 21st at the University Bank parking lot in downtown Ypsi. To tell us more about this year's event is organizer, comedian, and returning Juneteenth MC Gordon "Big" Dooley. Dooley, thank you so much for joining me here today!
Gordon "Big" Dooley: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I appreciate you for having me!
Lee Van Roth: So, Ypsi's Juneteenth celebration has been growing pretty substantially over the past six years.
Gordon "Big" Dooley: Yeah.
Lee Van Roth: Looking back, are there any moments that have really stood out to you across these celebrations that have shown you about the community's desire to celebrate in this way?
Gordon "Big" Dooley: Yeah. I think the local performers really would stand out for me the most. The desire. The demand. We have so many people who want to perform for Juneteenth, right? The selection process year after year, right, it gets a little harder.
Lee Van Roth: I'm sure!
Gordon "Big" Dooley: As the word keeps spreading. You want kind of a mixture, right? We want some local acts, we want some kind of regional acts and if we can, we can, a national act as well. So, squeezing in those local acts can sometimes get hard because there's so many talented people in this area. But that's probably the thing that I remember most. There's just so much talent in this area, and we do our best to showcase as much local talent as we can.
Lee Van Roth: And last year marked the move to the University Bank where you had this year as well.
Gordon "Big" Dooley: Fun times!
Lee Van Roth: Can you tell me a little bit about why that move happened and why you're sticking around there?
Gordon "Big" Dooley: So, there were some changes in the background. I'm not too politically inclined. I don't know all the ins and outs of it, but I know there were some changes within the City of Ypsilanti. There was some rezoning requirements that happened there, so we kind of had to leave that location and then go to another one. So, I'm not sure of all the particulars. I'm not at the top of that food chain, so all the details don't necessarily travel down to my level, But, nonetheless, University Bank has been very gracious, very welcoming and very supporting, and I think we've actually gotten a little bigger and better since we've moved over there.
Lee Van Roth: Like last year, this year's event spans three full days.
Gordon "Big" Dooley: Yeah! Yeah!
Lee Van Roth: What can folks expect from the festival this year?
Gordon "Big" Dooley: I think they can really expect to see a display of Black excellence--just Black excellence at its finest. I think we're really digging back and to our history, right? And we really want people to be inspired by all the contributions that all of our talent and entertainment and food, right, just all the contribution of African Americans to this country throughout the last hundreds of years. We kind of want to bring that into a culmination and just celebrate all of that at one time, from food to talent, entertainment, comedians, poets, right, everything that this culture really has to offer. We try and give you a little taste of what really we have to offer right now, all in one weekend.
Lee Van Roth: And one of the themes that you have emphasized and that has been emphasized across these last couple of years with Ypsi's Juneteenth is this is obviously a celebration.
Gordon "Big" Dooley: Right.
Lee Van Roth: Bringing folks together to celebrate how far things have come, how much things have changed, but there is also this educational kind of aspect to it as well.
Gordon "Big" Dooley: Absolutely, absolutely!
Lee Van Roth: Why is it so important to combine those two things?
Gordon "Big" Dooley: I think when you look at history, we've shown, throughout time, when you don't study history, when you don't pay attention to history, things will repeat themselves, right? Obviously, we've come a long way in this country as far as race relations. I think recent issues and events have kind of done a little bit to push us back a little, right? We've kind of moved the bar in another direction. So, I think the real importance of this year is to let us let the world know that we're still here. We're still celebrating our contributions. We know what we've done. You can take our achievements off of monuments. You can try and erase it out of the history books, but we're going to be here to tell you that we are still here, right? So, it doesn't matter how many things you take down. You can take us out of textbooks or cancel DEI, but we're still going to celebrate our culture and we're going to educate our community, right? You guys need to pay attention. You have to pay to what's happening right now. Because if we don't pay attention, if we don't push back, it's going to continue to go in the wrong direction. Nobody thought we would get here, but here we are. So, we're taking a stand!
Lee Van Roth: And I mean, this celebration, in some aspects, especially for marginalized communities too, is an act of resistance kind of in and of itself.
Gordon "Big" Dooley: It is. It is, in a sense, an act of resistance. You know, we face the hurdles, like you just mentioned, from moving from one location to the other. So, there have been weather hurdles. There've been logistical hurdles. There's always going to be hurdles for us to overcome every year, right? There's new challenges that we face every year. But every year, the message becomes more important, right. So, the message has to outweigh the problems. The importance has to outweigh the small inconveniences of putting a big festival like this on, right? And this is a year-long planning process. This doesn't just happen in a couple of months. This is a year-long playing process. So, regardless of what stands in our way, it's important that this festival remains strong and remains going right here in Ypsi.
Lee Van Roth: And another big draw, I think for the audience, the audience that comes out each year, is the fact that this is a very...there's something for everybody. It's an all-ages kind of affair. There's the Kids' Corner, I know. There are activities and things for seniors and everyone in between.
Gordon "Big" Dooley: Everyone from 8 to 80 almost, right? We have so many different age brackets covered as you mentioned. We have the Kids' Corner. We also have the kids taking over the stage for a period of time on Saturday during our prime time. We're going to highlight our youth. We're going to uplift and support our youth during the youth main stage takeover. So, we're really looking forward to getting them out, getting them engaged, getting the whole family engaged, right? That is the really beautiful thing about Juneteenth is having something for someone from eight to 80. It's kind of an incredible feat to be honest with you. But with the diversity of vendors and programs and services that we offer and the entertainment, it's something for everyone.
Lee Van Roth: This is WEMU's On the Ground Ypsi. I'm Lee Van Roth talking with organizer Gordon "Big" Dooley about Ypsilanti's sixth annual Juneteenth celebration. Dooley, this year's event is made possible through partnerships with the City of Ypsilanti, with Washtenaw County, with University Bank.
Gordon "Big" Dooley: Yeah!
Lee Van Roth: How important have partnerships like those been to the festivals continued?
Gordon "Big" Dooley: Oh my God! Vital, essential, critical. You can't do it without it, right? Let's be honest. This cannot happen without funds. There are so many communities across the country who are going in the other direction, who are no longer or lessening there for community support of Juneteenth events and operations. So, for the City of Ypsilanti and Washtenaw County to still be full on board, diversity is still very important right here, and it's still supported and encouraged. It's a beautiful thing. Not only the city, but obviously our politicians. Shoutout to our mayor, Nicole Brown. She's been a huge supporter. Obviously, we have a lot of politicians who come out, Debbie Dingell. She's always there year after year, so shoutout to her and her support. We just have a really good time. We have a really good support base. And the community support as well, right? We have presenting sponsors, but, obviously, we accept donations from the community. So, many of the seniors, right, from this community who know the history, who know their importance, really donate and give back. A lot of businesses, a lot of other small businesses too. So, I want to definitely shout them out too. It takes a village. So, everyone in Ypsilanti really comes together to make this happen. We appreciate them!
Lee Van Roth: I know you had mentioned as far as booking acts and things for the enjoyment of everybody and how difficult it is.
Gordon "Big" Dooley: It is!
Lee Van Roth: Year after year, having so much talent to choose from. I'm going to ask you to try and choose at least one that you can highlight for folks that if there's one that your particular looking forward to, you want folks to not miss out on this one.
Gordon "Big" Dooley: Okay, I'm a little biased. I'm going to be honest with you. As you know, I'm a Willow Run graduate. I'm an Ypsilanti native. So, I call him my nephew, although we don't have any blood relation, but I am most looking forward to Ypsilanti's own KidJay performing. He's just an amazing young man. He has an amazing support base. His career continues to ascend. There was one time we did a show together years ago at EMU when he was just starting. It was a Black History program, and I was going last, right? I was the headliner that day. And I said, "This will be the last time that I go on last before KidJay." And that has held true, because every show that we've done together since then, he's definitely been the headliners.
Lee Van Roth: Let's go!
Gordon "Big" Dooley: And that is the way it should be. Incredibly talented young man! I love him to death! So, I'm always looking forward to see my nephew, KidJay, rock the stage!
Lee Van Roth: And for any folks that maybe haven't had the chance to head out to Juneteenth in these past couple of years, why this year should they come out to University Bank and celebrate this year?
Gordon "Big" Dooley: Honestly, Ypsilanti is the biggest and best and the baddest Juneteenth celebration in the state. There it is. I said it out loud! We do this! We really do this! We get everyone involved. We're growing every year with the amount of vendors we have, the community support. Thank you, Ypsilanti and the surrounding community! I cannot thank the community's support enough, and I'm ready and fired up as you can tell for this year already. So, let's go!
Lee Van Roth: Well, Dooley, thank you so much for joining me here today and for sharing a little bit of the behind-the-scenes for Juneteenth this year. I drive past pretty frequently throughout those weekends over the last few years and seeing just the crowds that form. I'm very excited to see that again!
Gordon "Big" Dooley: Thank you! Thank you! As am I!
Lee Van Roth: For more information on today's topic and links to the full article, visit our website at WEMU.org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU, Ypsilanti.
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