The celebration of Juneteenth here in the Lehigh Valley definitely shows a message that we are in this together.

So this is our second year and we're really excited.

We've expanded at this point.

You start your layering.

Playing music from my records I'm bringing in my organ band.

Highmark Blue Shield and Highmark Whole Care are proud to support this DEI program.

We strive to ensure our community has access to education, food, health care and more.

These are part of our core values, an ongoing commitment to the community.

I'm Pastor Phil Davis.

This weekend, Juneteenth Lehigh Valley kicks off a full day of concerts, film screenings, presentations and conversations centered on and celebrating the African-American experience.

During this program, I'll be introducing you to a few of the organizers musicians, chefs, and artists giving this old holiday at Lehigh Valley State.

But first, people always ask me, Pastor Phil, what is Juneteenth?

Why June 19?

It's not the date of the Emancipation Proclamation.

It's not the end of the Civil War.

Why this date?

What's it mean?

Well, let's learn a little bit about that.

Juneteenth is about an announcement that happened to 1918 65.

Major Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas.

With Union troops.

His announcement the general order number three.

The people of Texas are informed that in accordance to a proclamation from the executive of the United States.

All slaves are free.

This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property.

Between former masters and slaves.

And the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor Juneteenth.

Juneteenth.

Juneteenth is now a national holiday.

Celebrating the end of slavery.

But it's also celebrating the abilities, the fortitude, the accomplishments that the African-American community has given.

But also to educate ourselves and others on authentic American history.

All the way with the rest.

That celebration last year was kind of like the prelude in opening to what, Juneteenth meant for not just African-Americans, but for every American history.

Being a part of a celebration and being a part and acknowledged for your contributions in abilities gives one a sense of pride, gives one a sense of belonging.

Be able to celebrate and maybe be will to see that we can come together, kind of seeing a path forward, you know, and all of us participating in that best path for not just African-Americans, but just literally in general, it's an opportunity for us to learn the true history, to be seen, to be visible.

And I'm just.

So grateful that people.

Of all backgrounds are here.

Celebrate with us this very important.

Monumental holiday.

The impact that Lehigh Valley, Juneteenth has had on this community is like none.

Other.

The comments I got from so many people, which was really surprising that they said they hadn't seen so many African-Americans and people of color in one place in the Lehigh Valley ever.

I have lived in Lehigh Valley for almost 17 years.

I've been on boards and participated in many.

Many events in Lehigh Valley.

But this is the.

First of its kind where you've seen so many beautiful brown faces all at one place, purposely and by other people.

Thank you.

I feel like the impact that it's had on the Lehigh Valley as a whole, not just the black community is the fact that it brought us all together in a sense, because we all come together for the 4th of July typically.

And that's considered American history.

And this is something that we were able to learn that was new together.

You don't have to go to Philadelphia.

You don't have to go to New York.

You can stay right here.

Juneteenth Lehigh Valley will be a part of the Lehigh Valley tourism industry and being able to celebrate diversity equity inclusion as a part of this state initiative.

This is something that can't be admitted.

Juneteenth, Lehigh Valley staple.

Well, thank you, Faces International for that amazing video.

If you want more information about this upcoming Juneteenth celebration, go to Juneteenth live Dawg.

But I'm so blessed to be able to have our friend and sister, Dr. Karen Britt, and we're going to talk a little bit about what's happening this upcoming year.

Doctor Britt, welcome back.

To the U.S. about the Juneteenth upcoming Juneteenth program.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

Can you tell us a little bit about what's going on this year?

So this is our second year and we're really excited.

We've expanded.

We have still the bands, the R&B, soul, jazz and reggae.

But we have a headliner in regards to a jazz artist.

That's Tim Warfield.

Wow.

And his band is coming.

And he's also hosting a Masters class.

So not only is he going to be performing, but there's going to be a class as well.

Where's that going to be?

That's going to be in the arts course building in the red cinema.

OK, so he's going to be hosting an arts a masters class for anyone, and especially our community music school students that will be attending.

And so that's one of the highlights.

The other highlight is that we are featuring food.

Oh, OK. And why is that important?

Because a part of the experience of the African-American community at the end of Juneteenth, when the actual holiday was given and freedom was announced in Texas, there was a celebration and a part of that celebration is food.

Yes.

So we are going to be showing a part of the Netflix High on the Hog series sold for.

Yes, yes, yes.

Which was directed by native and friend Roger Ross Williams actually just won a Peabody Award.

Did.

It did.

And he's an amazing talent and gift There's one story.

A production company is doing amazing work with some of their productions and this high on the hog.

So we're going to get a chance to see it here.

Yes, we're going to be showing episode four.

And then we have a panel discussion with African American and African restaurant owners here in the Valley to talk about the connections from Africa to the United States in regards to food and the food of Juneteenth.

That's amazing.

So we're looking forward to that.

And of course, Roger, being from Easton, he's not just from the Lehigh Valley, but we claimed him from Easton as well.

Yes.

And what a gift and a talent he is.

And to bring his work here to the Lehigh Valley and celebrate it is exciting.

So what else is going to be happening?

We're going to have a fine arts exhibit that will be in the blast furnace room on the second floor.

We have a panel of local artists and a curator that will be talking through that, and we're excited about that as well.

Yes, we have dancers from the area that will be on the Leavitt Pavilion.

Yes.

We have this whole children's area at PBS.

This children's stage will be full of activities.

We have an arts center that's sponsored by Crayola.

Wow.

We have a magician, OK, but we also have Lehigh Valley Wreaths.

They will be coming in, handing out books 100 books to the first 100 families that come to Juneteenth, Lehigh Valley.

That's a blessing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Do people have to register to come or is it just coming in?

It's open.

You don't have to register.

The only thing you have to register for is for the historical menu tasting.

OK, we did that last year.

It was sold out before we actually even had the event.

Got to love it.

So this year we've expanded the number of seatings D Marie who is a restaurant owner in downtown Easton on Northampton Street.

Good and Pretty is her restaurant.

Yes, she's our in residence chef and she's cooking all the foods of Juneteenth.

And so if you want to come to the tasting, you go on to our website register.

It's $6 in $0.19 Pacific 6019.

Absolutely right.

And you can come in and have a tasting.

It is a tasting of the foods of Juneteenth and of course it includes a red velvet cake.

There's just a vast array of program is opportunities for people to connect from reading to music to literature.

I remember last year there was a drama that happened.

Will there be something in the area?

Are we having?

We're having multiple dance groups.

Oh wonderful.

What we did added on to this year is we added the blues cinema that is directed towards teens and young adult.

Wonderful.

So we have hip hop artists.

Yes, we have some dancers in there.

We have poets.

The spoken word.

Is going to be amazing.

There and everything for the younger cohort of attendees that they will have the blues cinema from morning actually to the evening in regards to activities there.

Right.

So we're very, very excited.

And I got to add this, this Juneteenth Lehigh Valley is a grant award of a grant from the state of Pennsylvania.

That's a tourism office, OK, through Voices Underground, which is an organization looking promoting Juneteenth and so what we are now a part of, it's almost like a think tank for the state of Pennsylvania to really set up best practices on how to do Juneteenth within the state.

So we are one of six awardees from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia to Harrisburg State College Mount Pocono, Chester County and the Lehigh Valley.

So we're there.

That's great.

So I was really excited to go and be a part of the press conference when the award was announced and that this grant was available and that we are part of that grant.

We do have state representatives coming in next week that are going to be going down to some of our restaurants and looking at what we're doing for Juneteenth.

That's amazing.

And it really has put us on a different platform as it relates to Juneteenth, because the state Office of Tourism is really looking at showing the rest of the country how to do Juneteenth.

So we become the model.

So we become the.

Model, right?

What a wonderful accomplishment.

The work that you've done.

I'm sure it began as a seed in your heart and you know, when we playing good seed, it produces fruit and impacting lives not just here in the Lehigh Valley, but all across the state of Pennsylvania.

Thank you for what you're doing.

Now, let me get the date before I close out.

It's the 18th, right?

That's right.

We're here at Arts Quest and PBS on Saturday, the 18th.

We are in partnership with what's happening in Allentown.

Yes, on Sunday, June 19th.

And they have we have an arm on the steering committee for that celebration as well.

We have a wonderful line up in regards to music and vendors and food.

But we also have a basketball tournament, a football tournament.

Three swimming lessons at Cedar Beach.

And we're also showing the movie Pride, which is based on a true story starring the late Bernie Mac and Terrence Howard on the swim club in Philadelphia.

Yes.

And then, of course, ending with fireworks, a stadium.

That's amazing.

So is truly the whole Lehigh Valley.

Yes, it's inclusive.

Everybody can come.

It's not just for black folks, but it's for everybody and anybody who wants to come promoting the spirit of unity.

Thank you so much, Karen, for taking the time.

I'm sorry, Dr. Karen Drew for taking the time out to come and share with us.

We're looking forward to a great weekend.

OK, thank you so much.

All right.

Of course.

All righty.

Thank you.

No black holiday would be complete without food, especially soul food.

Now you have to understand that soul food has a deep meaning to the African-American community during the days, of course, of slavery.

There was so much work that happened during the week.

But when we came to the table, that food was good to our soul because it was an opportunity to rest and renew ourselves for the week to come.

One of the many talented local chefs that you're going to meet at the Juneteenth Lehigh Valley is Dee Marie from Good and Pretty Foods.

In East Timorese, stopped by PBS 39 recently and shared her grandmother's recipe for mac and cheese.

Hello, guys.

I'm Dee Marie.

I'm here from Good and Pretty Foods.

I'm just going to refer back to my grandmother, who was from Rocky Mount.

That area North Carolina, hands down, my best friend from probably birth till she died, which was I was about 17, 18 years old.

So I watched her a lot in the kitchen and this is one of everyone's favorite macaroni and cheese baked macaroni and cheese.

So we're going to go ahead and get started.

Obviously, you have your boiling water your elbow macaroni, so that's gonna put that in you're going to add a little salt.

Typically the macaroni boils for about eight to 9 minutes.

I like to do it a little less because it goes into the oven and we don't want the macaroni to overcook.

So while that's boiling, we're going to do a real you don't necessarily have to do a roll.

My grandmother did, and she just layered it with regular milk, butter, salt, pepper, macaroni and she just used sharp cheese.

I do use Monterey Jack, typically lighter colored cheese or white color cheese.

Is breakdown in the body easier, but they're usually creamier.

So I like to use that with the mix of cheddar for my roux, I use half and half these quantities are to make a pound of baked macaroni and cheese.

So I go ahead and start with a whole quart of hair and head and then for this particular quantity, we're going to do two eggs and we want to mix them up, beat them pretty good, nice.

And even so that when it goes into your half and half, it does separate and cook separately.

So our half and half is gone.

When we got two eggs in there, we're going to put a cup of evaporated milk.

One thing I like to do that's a little different from others.

I like a little smoked paprika.

It gives it a nice flavor.

We do that.

I like to put a little onion powder just so that you know the body of it outside of the cheese and macaroni, which is what the rule is to kind of keep it together.

It has some flavor to it, a little salt little black pepper, and then I like to add, this is a mix of the Monterey Jack Vermont cheddar, of course, and regular sharp.

And we're just going to whisk that in now.

And that should thicken up if it doesn't thicken the way you would like it to, that's OK. You can always add more cheese to it.

However, when you add the macaroni and the other cheeses, once it's in the cooking dish, the casserole dish, you do want it to be a little soupy.

Now, by now, your Mac should be done.

So we're going to go ahead and drain that me personally.

Any time you're cooking, always.

These are every little thing.

So we're just going to put a little bit more thought on the macaroni, a little onion powder, a little bit more smoked paprika, and you just going to move that around the noodle.

I did a little research on macaroni and cheese.

Some people will make reference to Thomas Jefferson being the person who invented it.

However, one of his slaves that worked for him, obviously, was the cook.

He's James Hemming.

He actually is known to have perfected it.

So that goes in hand in hand.

And it being one of the traditional dishes for the actual Juneteenth meal, not just being a soul food staple.

I put a half a stick of butter in the rule just because I like it moist and nice and rich.

So that's optional.

Now that we have the the room where we want it, it's a little bit thicker.

What I'm going to do now is add this to the macaroni and typically when you make macaroni and cheese, you want to hear.

If you don't hear rip, it doesn't sound creamy.

You probably need some more rule put to it, or you can add a little bit more cheese to it while the macaroni is in the.

Rule.

And with any kind of base dish or casserole, typically you want to spray your pan or your casserole dish.

I like some butter flavor, Pam.

So this way it does this and it still gives it a little flavor.

So you're going to pour your macaroni with their roll.

And as you can see, it's a little soupy, which, you know, it's thick enough.

It's got a good consistency.

But that's what you want we just want to even it out a little bit at this point.

You start your layering and again, this particular cheese is a mix of sharp Vermont cheese, mild cheddar and sharp cheddar after you layer your cheese, I like to put a few pats of butter just to keep it moist because you don't want it to overcook, you don't want it to taste dry, and then you're going to put your top layer and you just kind of spread that around oh, well, you know, it's going to be good if it gets on your coals.

Everybody knows that God forbid we don't get dirty or tear up the apron.

That's when you know it's going to be good at this point.

I'm going to put a few more pats of butter.

We're going to file what we've regular paprika, a little paprika just for color and a little bit of a black pepper and then we want to thoroughly cover this for foil and you're going to pop this in the oven for about 40 minutes on 385.

And after the 40 minutes, you want to take your foil off.

And for that we can get the top nice and brown after 40 minutes and about ten to 15 minutes.

I'm covered your macaroni and cheese should look like this.

And you can see it still has that nice shiny coating.

That's from the butter.

It's a brown and has a nice the corners are nice and crispy.

You want that and the paprika gives it a nice taste.

But this should be how it looks when you're finished.

So I thank you for your time and the opportunity, everyone to have a wonderful Juneteenth holiday.

And thank you.

Man.

That looks delicious.

The crew here at the studio all assure me that De Murray's Mac and cheese is some of the best they've ever tasted.

Not that they saved me a plate or anything, but Juneteenth.

Lehigh Valley provides a stage for performing arts of all types dancers, musicians, storytellers and poets like our next guest.

Sadie.

Sadie.

Hi, I'm Sadie.

CDC, say the poet of peace.

So I would say I do poetry because of the fact that it's a creative expression.

And me personally, I feel like creative expression is a secret to healing the world.

Ultimately, when you look at the state of the world that we live in currently, you know, there's a lot of two or more a lot of a lot of hate, a lot of anger.

But when you think about creative expression, you think about things that bring you joy, you know, things that bring you laughter.

Things that bring you love, you know?

So these are the things that we need more of in this world.

When it comes down to the celebration of Juneteenth here in the Lehigh Valley, I feel like it definitely shows a message to those unheard voices, letting them know that we are in this together.

And that's very important because a lot of times I can definitely see that people of color tend to feel unheard in and not involved sometimes.

So being able to have such a grand celebration, you know, on a grand scale, at a place like Steele Stacks is very important, you know, to show that we are in this together, ultimately emancipation.

Yeah, we are finally free Janeway first 1863.

President Lincoln made it legal to be black in a human no more slavery.

The message was delayed for many down in the South until some brave black soldiers set out to spread it by mouth.

June 19th 1865.

We break bread in celebration for those tenacious laughs that fought for the freedom of all people.

As you fast forward to today, we're now living a sequel.

Black Lives are free.

But there's a matter here two black lives matter draws a line in the sand.

There's no question we're human.

Deserving of liberty and justice for all is how we're supposed to be emancipate and yet we are finally here.

But the progress must continue for relief of despair.

Emancipation Tim Warfield is a professor of music at Temple University, acclaimed jazz saxophonist and, of course, one of our talented musical guests at this year's Juneteenth Lehigh Valley.

Here is what Tim had to say about what's in store.

My name is Tim Warfield.

I'm a saxophonist and educator.

I teach at Temple University as well as in psychology.

I started playing music at age nine.

Very first gig I did under my own name was at age 16.

So I'm guessing I had some sort of musical acumen of sorts.

The next thing I know, I was going out on the road, touring the world you know, as a younger person.

I did all of the rigorous touring.

The older my body says it's time to bow out gracefully while I still have a little body that works correctly.

And so now I'm involved in education sort of playing music from my records.

I'm bringing in my organ band this band will consist of five members in total.

That would be trumpet which was its Terell Stafford on trumpet, Jacqueline, aka Vido on percussion, Byron Landrum on drums, and Pat Beyond on Hammond B3 organ.

And then my cell phone saxophones, piano into I would have put a label on it.

We would call it Soul Jazz it's kind of funky.

It's very traditional, come from the blues, come from gospel, so you'll be hearing some originals as well as some covers that I'm sure people will be familiar with.

It'll be lots of fun.

I'm sure it'll be an experience that they normally wouldn't have, and I'm just happy and looking forward to sharing with them.

The musicians that I have with me are stellar, and I'm certain that they'll not only be impressed, but if they take the time to talk with me, everyone in the group, we're all very likable.

People will take the time it's an honor to be a part of this event.

I've heard that the event last year was exceptional, and I know that there's a lot of anticipation of an even larger crowd and a greater event.

So it's an honor and a pleasure to be a part of this.

Thanks to everyone who joined us for this special preview of Juneteenth.

Lehigh Valley.

The festivities kick off at 11 a.m. and you can see the whole lineup at Juneteenth WL V dot org.

I'm Pastor Phil Davis and I hope to see you there.

It's going to be an amazing time.