{"id":8632,"date":"2026-06-18T13:57:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/juneteenth-freedom-fest-returns-june-20-with-midnight-star-headlining\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T13:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:57:08","slug":"juneteenth-freedom-fest-returns-june-20-with-midnight-star-headlining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/juneteenth-freedom-fest-returns-june-20-with-midnight-star-headlining\/","title":{"rendered":"Juneteenth Freedom Fest Returns June 20 with Midnight Star Headlining"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"75\" data-end=\"310\">The 10th Annual South Carolina Juneteenth Freedom Fest will take place June 20 at <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Finlay Park<\/span><\/span>, bringing a day-long celebration of culture, history, entertainment, and community engagement to downtown Columbia.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"312\" data-end=\"596\">Festival organizers have announced legendary R&amp;B and funk group <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Midnight Star<\/span><\/span> as the event&#8217;s headliner. Known for chart-topping hits such as <em data-start=\"477\" data-end=\"493\">&#8220;Freak-A-Zoid&#8221;<\/em> and <em data-start=\"498\" data-end=\"532\">&#8220;No Parking on the Dance Floor,&#8221;<\/em> the group is expected to perform before thousands of attendees.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"598\" data-end=\"803\">Festival gates open at 1 p.m. and activities will continue throughout the day, honoring the significance of <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Juneteenth<\/span><\/span> while celebrating freedom, culture, and future generations.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"805\" data-end=\"1129\">&ldquo;This year means everything to us,&rdquo; said Jamal Bradley. &ldquo;To celebrate 10 years of community, culture, resilience, and growth with legendary artists like Midnight Star is something truly special. This festival has grown from a vision into a movement, and we are excited to celebrate with families from all across the region.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1131\" data-end=\"1157\">The festival will feature:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"1159\" data-end=\"1655\">\n<li data-section-id=\"ztoxak\" data-start=\"1159\" data-end=\"1208\">Live performances by national and local artists<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"cbquch\" data-start=\"1209\" data-end=\"1327\">A Youth Empowerment Zone with youth performers, youth DJs, games, STEM activities, and family-friendly entertainment<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"w7153a\" data-start=\"1328\" data-end=\"1395\">A Black Farmers Market supporting local growers and entrepreneurs<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1gp6646\" data-start=\"1396\" data-end=\"1444\">Food trucks and vendors from across the region<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"15i63tk\" data-start=\"1445\" data-end=\"1479\">Medical and healthcare resources<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"17blu2h\" data-start=\"1480\" data-end=\"1531\">Education and workforce development opportunities<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1oyjcvg\" data-start=\"1532\" data-end=\"1579\">Community organizations and cultural exhibits<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"147a2di\" data-start=\"1580\" data-end=\"1655\">Shopping, art, music, networking, and interactive activities for all ages<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"1657\" data-end=\"1815\">Organizers said this year&#8217;s theme emphasizes empowerment, economic opportunity, cultural pride, and building stronger futures through community collaboration.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1817\" data-end=\"2161\">Over the past decade, the South Carolina Juneteenth Freedom Fest has grown into one of the Midlands&#8217; largest annual celebrations, drawing thousands of attendees while providing opportunities for small businesses, artists, educators, healthcare organizations, nonprofits, and workforce development partners to engage directly with the community.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2163\" data-end=\"2256\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">For additional information and festival updates, visit <span class=\"\" data-state=\"closed\"><a class=\"decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.juneteenthfreedomfest.com?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">South Carolina Juneteenth Freedom Fest<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2163\" data-end=\"2256\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\"><span class=\"\" data-state=\"closed\">Photo from: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SCJuneteenthFreedomFest\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SCJuneteenthFreedomFest\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 10th Annual South Carolina Juneteenth Freedom Fest will take place June 20 at Finlay Park, bringing a day-long celebration of culture, history, entertainment, and community engagement to downtown Columbia. Festival organizers have announced legendary R&amp;B and funk group Midnight Star as the event&#8217;s headliner. Known for chart-topping hits such<span class=\"more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/juneteenth-freedom-fest-returns-june-20-with-midnight-star-headlining\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[32],"tags":[1337],"class_list":["entry","author-john-griggs","post-8632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-events","tag-juneteenth-celebration"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gpstrianglenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SCJFFest_2026_630x350.jpg?fit=630%2C350&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}