MARGO DOSS, B. MARSHALL, CHARLOTTE DOSS. (PHOTO BY ROB TAYLOR JR.)
KRS-One, Soul For Real, Erica Campbell, Ohio Players…and fireworks!
If you build it, they will come.
B. Marshall has built it, and everybody has come.
Everybody. Like elected officials and the corporate world, in addition to the hard-working Pittsburghers who love Black culture and music.
Juneteenth in Pittsburgh has come a long way since there were 75 people celebrating the holiday at Stage AE, B. Marshall’s first foray into hosting a Juneteenth celebration in Pittsburgh in 2013.
Even the outspoken B. Marshall didn’t think it would grow from 75 people 10 years ago to 35,000 people in 2022. “How could I say I thought that,” he told the New Pittsburgh Courier. “We never thought that (it would get that big), but we were persistent and we have enjoyed the growth and the development.”
B. Marshall, with the organization Stop The Violence Pittsburgh, held a news conference in City Council chambers on April 26 to proudly announce the lineup of this year’s Juneteenth celebration, to be held, Friday, June 16, to Monday, June 19. The actual Juneteenth holiday is on June 19.
On Friday, June 16, Juneteenth will honor Hip-Hop’s 50 years in existence, with performances at Point State Park from Hurricane Chris, Ar rested Development and KRS-One. On Saturday, June 17, the Grand Jubilee/Juneteenth Parade will take place beginning at 10:30 a.m. at Freedom Corner, making its way through Downtown Pittsburgh. The Grand Marshall will be Colonel James H. Harvey, a Top Gun Red Tail Tuskegee Air Pilot, one of the last surviving pilots of the famed Tuskegee Airmen. Saturday’s festivities at Point State Park begin at 2 p.m. with a performance from the U.S. Army Jazz Band, followed by R&B artists Sammie, Keke Wyatt and Carl Thomas. On Sunday, June 18, the Sammy Deleon Jazz Fusion Band plays at 3 p.m., followed by R&B group Soul For Real and Grammy Award-winning Gospel artist Erica Campbell.
B. MARSHALL, WITH MARK LEWIS, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE POISE FOUNDATION. (PHOTOS BY ROB TAYLOR JR.)
On Monday, June 19, it all starts with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at 3 p.m., a Phyllis Hyman Tribute at 4:30 p.m., and then performances from Ruff Endz and the Ohio Players.
For the first time ever, a fireworks display will conclude Juneteenth, Monday, June 19, at 9:35 p.m., after the Ohio Players.
There will also be live performances from local artists throughout the weekend in Market Square. And a Juneteenth Youthfest takes place at Mellon Park in East Liberty, June 10-11.
Deputy Chief of Staff for the Pittsburgh Mayor’s Office, Felicity Williams, said one of her colleagues described Juneteenth as a “family reunion, something that brings Pittsburghers together and one of the events that makes Downtown welcoming and thriving.”
B. MARSHALL
Juneteenth, of late in Pittsburgh, has been a very, very large family reunion. During the news conference, Jerad Bachar, president and CEO of VisitPITTSBURGH, said that the four-day Juneteenth celebration in 2022 brought 35,000 visitors to Downtown, 10 percent of those were visitors from outside the region. It generated an estimated spend of $1.7 million for the region. He said that the Black Music Festival, which takes over Downtown Pittsburgh in mid-July, brought an estimated 22,000 visitors last year, 40 percent of whom were visitors, generating $1.4 million.
“We’re thrilled to be a part of this and we’re looking forward to seeing what 2023 brings,” Bachar said.
B. Marshall has actually put a goal out there of $10 million he wants his three festivals—Juneteenth, Black Music Festival and Soul Food Festival—to bring into Pittsburgh. In 2022, it was estimated that the economic impact of the three festivals was $4.4 million. For B. Marshall, he sleeps well at night knowing a lot of that money is going to small, Black-owned businesses that operate as vendors for the three festivals Downtown.
Highmark Wholecare is the official health care provider of Juneteenth. Dollar Bank is the sponsor of the Minority Small Business Vendor Plaza. UPMC serves as the sponsor for the Grand Jubilee Parade, and Citizens Bank is the political unit sponsor of the Grand Jubilee Parade. Don’t forget about the City of Pittsburgh; through a fund to ensure the arts are alive and well in Pittsburgh, it contributed $125,000 to this year’s Juneteenth celebration, according to B. Marshall.
Bachar said Juneteenth and the other festivals that B. Marshall hosts “raise consciousness; they celebrate our amazing African American communities as well as attracting out-of-town visitation. People are starting to come to these events on a much bigger scale.”
“It is events like Juneteenth that help make Pittsburgh a regional destination,” Williams said, “that celebrates the rich diversity of our region and creates those opportunities for Minority- and Women-owned businesses to thrive.”
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