In 1965, Montgomery County’s Scotland neighborhood off Seven Locks Road in Potomac was the sight of a successful fight to preserve the area as one of the county’s historically Black kinship communities.
Sixty years later, the neighborhood and the Juneteenth Scotland Foundation hosted the county’s largest Juneteenth celebration, a weeklong festival with 10 events held around the county that culminated Thursday with activities in Potomac, Bethesda, Rockville and Cabin John.
“There’s energy around people wanting to share, wanting to be a part of the community, wanting to be available on Juneteenth to celebrate,” Krystal Holland Davis, a member of the festival’s board of directors, said Thursday while visiting the festival’s Wellness and Social Action Pavilion in Cabin John Village.
The holiday originated on June 19,1865, when enslaved African Americans in Texas were informed they were free, more than two years after the signature of the Emancipation Proclamation. Montgomery County has held celebrations since 1997 and Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021 when then-President Joe Biden signed a bill into law recognizing the anniversary that had long been celebrated by African Americans.
Thursday marked the final day of Scotland’s third annual celebration, featuring a 5K run, the Wellness and Social Action Pavilion, a family carnival, and an exhibit on Montgomery County’s kinship communities at various locations. The day’s activities culminated in the Clarence “Pint” Israel Juneteenth Classic baseball game held Thursday night between the Gaithersburg Giants and Bethesda Big Train at Shirley Povich Field in Rockville.
At the Wellness and Social Action Pavilion, local organizations including the YMCA, Parent Education Program, Interfaith Works, and the nonprofit Housing Initiative Partnership came together along with members of the Montgomery County Council and County Executive Marc Elrich to inform county residents of available resources for health, wellness, and activism.
Although Scotland’s festival is over, Montgomery County Juneteenth celebrations will continue with events this weekend including Juneteenth: Freedom at the Rock, an all-day celebration at BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown featuring concerts, food vendors, and speeches.
“This festival is really a commentary on the American struggle for freedom and justice for every people,” councilmember Will Jawando (D-At-large) told Bethesda Today on Thursday at the pavilion. “It also speaks to the resilience of our community — at a time where other parts of the country are rolling back Juneteenth festivals, we’re expanding them.”
As dozens of people explored the pavilion, organizers such as Holland Davis said they have witnessed the Scotland festival’s growth over its three years of existence.
“This year we had more exhibitors than we’ve ever had — 45 exhibitors,” Holland Davis said. “People who are reaching out, not solicited. My first year, I was soliciting people, ‘Hey this is happening. You want to come?’”
For participating organizations such as the Housing Initiative Partnership, which is based in Germantown and Hyattsville, the festival was an opportunity to spread the word about the resources they’re offering, particularly to the county’s African American population.
The group helps residents in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties find affordable housing options through programs such as home sharing in which they match homeowners who are willing to rent out extra rooms for an affordable rate with prospective renters.
“I get very few renters and homeowners of color,” Michele Higgs, the partnership’s community outreach coordinator, said. “So if we can expose this program more widely, I may be able to make that accessible to them as well.”
Higgs said it’s her second year representing the nonprofit at the festival. She said she succeeded last year in securing a couple of referrals for people that the partnership was able to help.
The festival was initially created as a way for the Scotland foundation to raise money for the rebuilding of Scotland AME Zion Church, which was damaged in a 2019 flood, according to the foundation’s website. The church, which celebrated its official reopening in May, hosted the festival’s exhibit on the county’s historic Black kinship communities.
“[Montgomery County’s Juneteenth celebration] was started as a small little gathering, to now we have some of the biggest festivals in the D.C. region,” Jawando said. “I think the fact that we keep ramping it up is a testament to our commitment to try and do the right thing.”
