Q House Celebrates Juneteenth Blowout

“It’s been a robust day,” said Kara Wallace at an all-day Juneteenth celebration at Dixwell’s Q House — a day of art, food, sports, resources, and commitment to collective education and Black culture.

Robust was an understatement.

Wallace, the head of marketing and social media activations on the committee behind New Haven’s annual Juneteenth celebration, had worked along with the rest of the Juneteenth team since the early morning to provide hundreds of attendees with Saturday’s offerings. 

At the core of the Juneteenth organization was a group with generational roots in the fight to abolish slavery: the Descendants of the Connecticut 29th Regiment, the only Black regiment to fight in the Civil War. Long before Juneteenth became a federal holiday, the Descendants worked year after year to make their Black history known around town. Now, under the leadership of Kelly Mero, Juneteenth in New Haven has blossomed into a blowout event.

Barbara Binns, visiting from Jamaica, called the festivities ​“excellent.” She was resting in the shade of the Jamaica tent, one of several stations celebrating Black diaspora from places around the world, including Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Brazil.

Suzie Watson, playing games with 2‑year-old Skylar, praised the festival for its smooth organization, and said it was easy to get around.

“We got Jeanette Morrison in the house,” the DJ called out from the outdoor stage. Dixwell’s Ward 22 alder was making her way through the Q House’s plaza to greet the attendees and gush about the girls’ basketball game that was taking place in the gym at the same time.

Two decades ago, the old Dixwell Q House closed, and ten years later Morrison promised to build a new one for the community. Morrison was finally able to cut the ribbon on the brand-new Q House in 2021. The old building, itself a giant in the hearts of those who remember it, could fit in the parking lot of the new one, Morrison said.

Morrison remembers Mero 14 years ago, trying to get support for Juneteenth festivities in the city.

The first year Mero put on Juneteenth as a festival in New Haven, there were only seven tents. That was back in 2015.

“Now, look at this,” Morrison said, gesturing to the plaza filled with something for every age range, interest, and need. ​“It’s like a big wedding.”

This year, Mero organized 86 different tents, each with something unique to offer. There were educational tents with donated treasures from Black history, a New Haven oral history poster project, healthcare tents, art-making stations, carnival games from Party Plug USA, job recruitment opportunities, a basketball tournament with over 170 kids coming together from all over the state, and an E‑sports competition.

“Y’all did your thing,” Morrison said to Wallace. ​“I appreciate y’all doing it in Dixwell.”

“This is home,” Wallace responded. She wanted the festival to always remain accessible.

That aim was grounded in the generosity of the festival, with free hot dogs and hamburgers for the kids, free shirts for the basketball players, free health screenings by Cornell Scott Hill-Health Center and Yale-New Haven Hospital, and cash prizes for the gamers. None of the activities cost money to join.

“We didn’t want anything to be cost prohibitive,” Wallace said. She wanted people to feel like they could ​“come right on over in their own neighborhood.”

Another type of festival might have trouble making the connection from E‑sports to collective consciousness, but Mero, Wallace, and the rest of the Juneteenth team made every link feel obvious. The day’s exhibits showed utmost respect for everything Black diasporas have created over the centuries, while the abundance of offerings and efforts to stay relevant for the kids constituted a promise to let the young ones’ interests lead the way.

A full decade of Juneteenth in New Haven, in the books.