SC town may soon recognize Juneteenth. Does that threaten plans for festivities?
Irmo could become the latest town in the Midlands to recognize a holiday honoring the end of slavery in the United States.
Irmo Town Council on Tuesday discussed adding Juneteenth to the holiday calendar of the town of 12,000 people northwest of Columbia. But some worried how making the celebration a formal town holiday would affect Irmo’s current plans for the day.
The federal government recognized Juneteenth as a national holiday in 2021, following in the wake of the demonstrations against racial inequality that broke out after the 2020 police killing of George Floyd. Locally, Juneteenth has been recognized by Cayce, Columbia and Lexington as well as Richland County, Town Councilwoman Phyllis Coleman said.
At a contentious council meeting in 2022, Swansea voted to observe Juneteenth in place of Confederate Memorial Day, the state holiday honoring South Carolinians who fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War, which had previously been on the town’s holiday schedule.
Juneteenth observes the anniversary of June 19, 1865 — believed to be the date the last enslaved people in the former Confederacy were liberated by the Emancipation Proclamation. Even before the holiday was federally recognized, Coleman said the date has been celebrated in the Black community on par with the significance of the Fourth of July.
“We recognize it as a second Independence Day,” she said Tuesday, “because the first one didn’t make all people independent... I’m not saying the Fourth is not recognized, but this has more significance for the African-American community.”
Since 2021, Irmo has hosted a Juneteenth festival in Moore Park hosted by the African American Historical Society. Past editions of the festival have drawn large crowds, and many town employees have been involved in making sure the event comes off without a hitch. Staff at Tuesday’s meeting expressed concern that would be more difficult if those employees have the day off.
Coleman said the town could still schedule its employees as needed for the event. “It would be similar to the Fourth,” she said. “They would get holiday pay or they could take another day off.”
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