PITTSBURGH — Since 2018, the annual Juneteenth event has been held at Point State Park, but this year, event organizer William Marshall said he hasn’t been able to secure the location. He is waiting for approval with just months to go until the big three-day event.
“We had some issues with them last year, and we are again having some issues this year,” said Marshall.
Each year, the event has grown in popularity, welcoming thousands over three days and bringing in millions for the city’s economy.
But this year when he went to secure the location, he received pushed back, and with just months until the event he is still waiting for approval to use the park.
“We had to get attorneys to try to resolve these issues, so we are waiting to see what Governor Shapiro is going to do to support Black residents in Allegheny County,” he said.
On Friday afternoon, Marshall stood with the support of major Pittsburgh corporations like UPMC, Highmark Healthcare, Heinz Endowment, and Visit Pittsburgh.
During the press conference, the group detailed how Marshall’s events over the past year have generated millions of dollars and brought thousands of people into the city.
“In 2023 Juneteenth Freedom Day, Black Soul food festival, and the Black music festival generated a combined economic impact of 7 million dollars,” said Derek Dawson with Visit Pittsburgh.
“Last year’s Juneteenth Celebration was a resounding success with over 130 small businesses and emerging entrepreneurs participating,” Jason Jones, of Dollar Bank.
Despite the economic boost to the city, both the city council and the mayor’s office were not a part of today’s conference. When we reached out to the city, they said they had no idea a press conference was being held. We asked if they supported the event, and the city shared that they plan to host a celebration of their own.
The city released this statement:
“The City is ensuring that Juneteenth Celebration is treated as the July 4th Celebration. This is not dueling or competition for the Juneteenth celebration. There’s a lot of various celebrations during July 4th and we’re working towards having that same energy for Juneteenth.”
The mayor’s office also confirmed they will not be hosting fireworks for Marshall’s celebration like they do for the Fourth of July events. And when we asked why, they said they were “unable to provide details due to an active RFP.”
“We have been at Point State Park since 2018 so we expect to be at Point State Park in 2024,” Marshall said.
Channel 11 News will continue to follow these developments.
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