VALDOSTA — Soulful melodies rang through the air at Lowndes County Courthouse Square.

Community members came out to the 23rd annual Juneteenth celebration.

The event, hosted by the Southside Library Boosters Club commemorates the last slaves in the United States to be set free.

“There were still actually people enslaved in Galveston, Texas so it’s a celebration of that day when the union soldiers rolled in and freed those last remaining slaves and that was on June 19, 1865, said Juneteenth committee member Chad Thomas.

The festival also includes vendors, African dance.

Even a proclamation by mayor john Gayle Lowndes County chairman Bill Slaughter, deeming June 20th as Juneteenth community awareness day.

The guest speaker of the festivities was Rev. Veronica Anderson Lewis who says this historic event has even greater meaning following the tragic shooting in Charleston South Carolina.

“It’s ironic that I was asked months ago to be the speaker but I am an A.M.A Minister as well. And it does rejuvenate our spirit to move forward and to work just a little bit harder so that all of us can work together.”

Southside Library Boosters Club puts on events like this to raise funds for the Southside Public Library in Valdosta.

WCTV