Celebrate Juneteenth With Us in Prince William County

Do you know the real story behind Juneteenth? And just as important, did you know that you’re invited to celebrate it with us?

Next Friday, June 19th, Prince William County is hosting its Juneteenth & Me Festival, and we couldn’t be more excited to be part of it. Here are the details:

When: Friday, June 19th, from 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m.
Where: Our booth at the McCoart building, in the county complex
Cost: Completely free and family-friendly

So mark your calendar and come spend the day with us. We want our clients, our friends, our referral partners, and everyone who’s done business with us to come out and just chill. We’ve got a spot set aside for you. There will be vendors, live music, and giveaways, including gas card giveaways, because we all know how expensive gas is these days, unless you’ve made the jump to electric. It’s going to be a great time for the kids, too.

The Juneteenth history. For those who may not know the history, let us reintroduce it. Juneteenth commemorates June 19th, 1865, the day Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation, which had been signed two and a half years earlier.

That message simply hadn’t reached Texas until then. So those troops arriving meant that all of the formerly enslaved people there finally learned they were free. The name itself is a play on words, June and nineteenth coming together as Juneteenth.

If the 4th of July marks the nation’s independence, Juneteenth honors the moment that liberty and freedom truly extended to all Black Americans who had been held in bondage. It’s a celebration of Black culture, Black history, and a relentless endurance to overcome years of oppression.

Here’s the reminder we really want to share. Juneteenth isn’t only a celebration of Black history. It’s a celebration of all history. It’s American history. And while we focus on this significant piece of the story, it’s meant to be inclusive, so we can all acknowledge where we’ve been and better understand where we’re going.

So when people ask us, “Can I come?” our answer is always the same: why couldn’t you? It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Black American or not. This is American history, and it’s something we should all be willing to celebrate together.

Allen puts it best with a story about his neighbor, who once stopped by to wish him a merry Christmas. Allen said, “Hold up, you’re Muslim.” His neighbor replied, “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want you to celebrate what’s important to you.” That’s exactly the spirit here. When we get past “this is yours” and “this is mine,” we get to the truth of it: this is all of us, celebrating everything we are.

That’s why we’re personally inviting every one of you out to the Juneteenth & Me Festival. It’s free, it’s for the whole family, and we would love to see you there.

If you’d like to connect with us about anything real estate while you’re at it, we’re always here. Call or text us at (703) 991-7900, email us at info@ajteamrealty.com, or visit ajteamrealestate.com. But mostly, we just want to see you on the 19th. Happy Juneteenth, everybody.