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Contact: Marilynn Fryer
(517) 796-8466
e-mail: FryerMarilynT@jccmi.edu
June 5th, 2006
For immediate release

Juneteenth Community Festival features music, zoo animals & more!

Jackson, you're invited to the annual Juneteenth Community Festival 2006 on Saturday, June 17, downtown at the Jackson Riverwalk Amphitheater. Don't miss musical guests Tony Terry, HotSauce and the Old Town Blues Band as they perform live on stage. Bring the kids and enjoy zoo exhibits with snakes, reptiles and live tigers!

National R&B and gospel music performer Tony Terry will be the featured entertainer this year. Tony Terry is best known for his hit songs "With You," "She's Fly," "Lovey Dovey," and "Everlasting Love," all of which reached Billboard Magazine's Top Ten R&B Single status. Tony released his first gospel album April 2006, and had previously released four solo albums. Tony has performed live with Boyz II Men, Gladys Knight, Celine Dion, and Stevie Wonder, and is currently touring with the legendary Roberta Flack.

Enjoy the positive sounds of Detroit-based HotSauce. Developing a distinct flavor and strong following as a Midwest band, HotSauce has performed at the North American International Auto Show, the Ford Detroit International Jazz Festival, various colleges & universities and numerous local and regional television and radio appearances. HotSauce offers positive, feel good music, contagious energy, and a dynamic live show that will touch the audience.

The Old Town Blues Band hales from Lansing and has wowed audiences throughout the Lansing and mid-Michigan area. They were named one of the 2005 Best of the Best Blues Band by the Lansing State Journal.

For the family, the festival will welcome the Graystone Ranch "Rollin' Reptiles and Serpentarium," offering a variety of snakes and other reptiles in an attractive display with knowledgeable staff. The Graystone Ranch tiger display brings these large, powerful and beautiful cats up close in safety.

Admission to the Juneteenth Festival is free. The Juneteenth festival is a fundraiser for the JCC College Incentive Program, or CIP, which offers two years college tuition scholarship to students in sixth grade given that they successfully complete high school. Juneteenth is presented by Jackson Community College, Adams Outdoor Advertising, Jackson County NAACP and JTV.

Historically, Juneteenth traces its origin to June 19, 1865, as an African American Emancipation Day. It acknowledges the date when slaves in Galveston, Texas, near the Gulf of Mexico, were told that they were set free from slavery and a celebration started. Today it is celebrated on the third Saturday in June and commemorates African American freedom and emphasizes education and achievement.