9th Annual Juneteenth Celebration Held at Shady Rest Golf and Country Club

(Scotch Plains, NJ) – The communities of Scotch Plains and Fanwood gathered on Saturday, June 13th under hot and sunny skies for the ninth Juneteenth celebration at the historic Shady Rest Golf and Country Club in Scotch Plains. Juneteenth marks the 161st year since the last enslaved Americans were finally freed on June 19, 1865 in Galveston, Texas, two-and-a-half-years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring that all three million slaves in Confederate territory were to be freed.

Shady Rest Clubhouse.

During the opening ceremony, Social Justice Matters President Tashira Wheeler said this year’s theme, “Freedom Forward, Building the Next Chapter Together,” “draws on 2026 being the 250^th anniversary of founding of the United States of America and the unfulfilled promise as it relates specifically to Black Americans that was written on the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal…”

Tashira Wheeler, president of Social Justice Matters.

Wheeler presented the Juneteenth Freedom Award to this year’s recipients, posthumously to Olympic Champion Milt Campbell, and to author and historian and community advocate Ethel M. Washington. Washington was also presented with a Freedom Quilt, with the quilt squares made by third-graders from the SPF school district, by McGinn School Principal Dr. Sasha Slocum.

The family of Milt Campbell displaying the Freedom Award presented to him posthumously during the Juneteenth opening ceremony.

Author, historian and community advocate Ethel M. Washington was this year’s recipient of the Juneteenth Freedom Award.

Scotch Plains-Fanwood Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Joan Mast, Scotch Plains Deputy Mayor Matt Adams, and Union County Commissioner Rebecca Williams attended the ceremony and spoke during the opening program.

Scotch Plains-Fanwood Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Joan Mast.

Union County Commissioner Rebecca Williams.

The day-long celebration, sponsored by the Borough of Fanwood and Scotch Plains Township, included live music and activities including a putting contest, balloon artist, West African dance and an interactive West African drum workshop, The Kramer Manor Story and Shady Rest history, Children’s Story Time with author Candace Waller, face painting, and tours of the Shady Rest Golf and Country Club Museum.

The Juneteenth event included over 35 information booths, local nonprofits, service organizations, local Black authors, Back-owned businesses and vendors.

The Juneteenth celebration is sponsored by Social Justice Matters in partnership with the Township of Scotch Plains and the Borough of Fanwood.