Brentwood Agrees to Move Forward with Juneteenth Celebration

On Tuesday, the Brentwood City Council unanimously agreed to move forward with a Juneteenth Celebration with a cost not to exceed $45k.

The event would be held on June 19th at City Park and in the downtown area from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm and would include a variety of music performances, activities and more. In an effort to fund the event, the city council directed staff to cancel a single Concert in the Park and shift those funds to the Juneteenth event.

According to Councilmember Pa’Tanisha Pierson, although there is no contract signed as of Tuesday, Lenny Williams, formally of Tower of Power, would perform an approximately 90-minute set as part of the event.

Activities to include:

Education/information to community
Freedom Walk through the downtown
Vendor Craft Fair
Mobile Food Vendors
Local Performers
Live Music Entertainment

Pierson clarified several times including noting the budget approved by the council was $30k and gave her direction to move forward immediately due to time restraints. She said she has had multiple meetings with city staff regarding the event.

“I would like to take this time to say that I am over the moon happy with where we have gone. My heart is full with the fact that for my first time sitting on this dais this has been the most harmonious. It feels like a multicultural affair,” stated Pierson. “I am so excited and we could not do anything we are talking about without the amazing work by none other than our city manager Tim Ogden, our Director of Parks and Recreation Bruce Mulder and our manager Tian with the help of Amanda and Stacy, I appreciate you all. They go so hard in the paint that no one ever sees it behind closed doors. They are an amazing team and I am so grateful for the opportunity to sit at the table and have a discussion.”

She said they have been working collectively to make decisions towards making this an outstanding event—she also called for involving the community, businesses and non-profits.

Pierson also shared the importance of the Freedom Walk and place a historical facts about African American History in each business willing to participate. This would be designed similar to a stamp program to encourage people to patronize the event while spending time going into the business.

“I would like all of our residents to walk the Freedom Walk to learn something more about the historic narrative of African Americans,” stated Pierson. “What is most important to me when we talk about some of the vendors and food trucks to make it an experience that unifies and builds.”

Pierson said she plans on reaching out to the Downtown Business Association, the school district, Harvest Time in Brentwood, local media and non-profits to bring everyone together and unify.

Pierson said the city was not in contract with the artist yet, but they plan on bringing Lenny Williams from Tower of Power. His set would be approximately 90-minutes.

After several public comments, Pierson wanted to clarify if anyone has been paid at this time for the Juneteenth event.

City Manager Tim Ogden stated there have been meetings and discussions, but no payments have been made because they wanted to finalize the funding. He also shared the differences between consulting and/or partnership.

Pierson further highlighted her ultimate goal was to ensure there is an annual event for Juneteenth and the city takes it serious like all the other holidays.

Councilmember Jovita Mendoza explained some of the frustrations are Pierson asked for this event over a year ago and the ball was dropped and if that hadn’t of happened, the city would not be in this situation.

“We all want this to be a great event, it’s a great part of American History, it happened to be black, but its American history,” said Mendoza. “Its our first time, lets get it done, see how it goes. We can do a post meeting see what went well, what didn’t and see what we can do better. We need to have some grace for the people who are doing it.”

She understood emotions were high but urged people to show grace.

Vice Mayor Susannah Meyer shared she believed the event needed to happen and believed Brentwood has shown a desire for expansion of cultural education and activities noting every time they get something new its well-attended.

“We are a melting pot and we are our best because we come together with a lot of different melting pots,” explained Meyer. “I’ve been discouraged by some of the things I am seeing online by people who appear to be deliberately misleading and misrepresenting what this event means and who it means it to… it impacts all of us.”

Meyer also called out the online promotion of this event taking away a concert in the park which she said was not the intent.

“That is not the intent of this, its to bring us all together in celebration and better understanding and music is involved,” said Meyer. “Whether or not we get Lenny Williams, how cool is that, we are going to have music. This is a chance for us all to learn from one another. I am seeing all these things online and some of these other Facebook pages, its disgusting.”

Mendoza interjected stating, “that is exactly why we need this event. Because of the stuff we see on certain peoples Facebook pages is exactly why this event has to happen.”

Meyer again stated it was a chance to bring people together but also noted the money was a lot but they were up against the wall and didn’t have time—with the budget being things that make it a good event.

Councilmember Tony Oerlemans called it a lot of money and was a conversation but wanted to clarify the cancelling of the concerts.

“I was the one that brought up cancelling a concert in the park Friday afterwards because they could take that money and use it for Juneteenth, but also we have staff that are going to be at Juneteenth and working on a federal holiday and then we are going to ask them to work more overtime the Friday following,” said Oerlemans while adding this event is for all of Brentwood. “I don’t care what the color of your skin is, I don’t care what any of the other things or are away to keep you out of the event, show up. I’ve shown up to so many events that I had never attended before I got on the city council and I have learned so much. Sometimes you step out and you grow and you learn just a little bit about someone than you knew before. That is not a horrible thing. Maybe we should try doing that.”

Oerlemans did advocate in the future they appoint no less than two councilmembers for anything (committees or event planning) to help and it shouldn’t happen in the future while working on a project. He thanked Pierson for her efforts.

After some discussion of the budget, Pierson credited staff for moving the event from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm based on weather in June.

Mendoza asked about recouping costs and if they would make money back from food trucks and other rental. Pierson said based on timing, Foodie Crew wouldn’t cause a distraction because they have the special permit at Veterans Park, they would be willing to move the Foodie Crew to downtown. The craft vendors would be free based on recommendation by Pierson, but could if the council wanted to recoup costs.

Mendoza and Meyer suggested for next year’s event, they discuss the costs and how to recoup cost which included sponsorships and grants.

Mayor Joel Bryant called this a community event that uplifts every single person who lives in the City of Brentwood. He called it an opportunity to learn and experience while the Freedom Walk accomplishes something he wanted other events to accomplish which was bring more people into the businesses versus standing in the sidewalks.

The council then voted 5-0 to approve a 2024 Juneteenth event and to provide the $45k in funding for the event.

Juneteenth