Clovis' Juneteenth celebration set for Sunday

Juneteenth is about remembering and recognition.

So says Delmus Gillis of Clovis, one of the people putting Sunday’s Juneteenth celebration together at Clovis’ Hillcrest Park.

“Celebrating Juneteenth recognizes the historic nature of our nation. It’s also remembering the restoration of a nation,” Gillis said.

Gillis of Clovis’ Bethlehem Baptist Church is helping organizer Kent Creamer of St. John Baptist Church and others in arranging the Sunday event.

An attempt to gain comment from Creamer was unsuccessful.

“Juneteenth is primarily about the word of emancipation reaching those enslaved in Texas in 1865, more poignantly those in the Galveston area,” Gillis said.

Gillis said Juneteenth is a celebration, but it’s “also a reminder there is work to be done.”

“To me it is a constant reminder there are many who the full force of freedom has not reached. While we are all free, I believe that not all of us enjoy the full access of the freedoms as of yet,” Gillis said.

Sunday’s program, open to the public, begins at 10 a.m. at Hillcrest Park with opening remarks from Clovis Mayor Mike Morris and Cannon Air Force Base Wing Commander Col. Jeremy Bergin.

Ben Salazar, representative for area congressional representative Teresa Ledger Fernandez, confirmed he will be speaking as well as Constance Williams on behalf of New Mexico senator Ben Ray Lujan.

There will also be more speakers and singing.

A lunch will be served after the event opening.

“After lunch we hope everyone will stay around and enjoy the zoo, the park and the splash pad,” Gillis said.