Eddie Williams, who owns Ohio BBQ Crew in Campbell, braves temperatures in the low 90s and high humidity Sunday to prepare spare ribs during the fifth annual Youngstown Juneteenth Festival in Wean Park, downtown. The two-day festival ended Sunday and culminated a weeklong local celebration of the national holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. Correspondent photos / Sean Barron

YOUNGSTOWN — An event that made history 160 years ago paved the way to make another opportunity for Eddie Williams to make his brand of ribs.

“I’ve got a slab of spare ribs and some greens over here,” Williams, who runs Campbell-based Ohio BBQ Crew, said. “I enjoy doing it for the community.”

He also did it, despite temperatures in the low 90s and high humidity — not to mention the extra heat from the grill he used — Sunday afternoon as part of the fifth annual Youngstown Juneteenth Festival in Wean Park, downtown.

Even with perspiration beads all over his face and arms, Williams cooked liberal helpings of spare ribs while refusing to allow the heat to deter him.

“I enjoy what I do, so I don’t mind,” he said.

Suffice it to say Williams also enjoyed a few top finishes for his delicacies, including third-place finishes at the recent Trumbull County African American Achievers Festival in Warren and an event in Carrollton, along with second place at last year’s rib cook-off competition in Bedford, near Cleveland.

The festivities Saturday and Sunday were part of a weeklong Juneteenth celebration that kicked off June 14 with a three-hour cleanup of the city corridor. Other offerings included a documentary about freedom and faith, a teen summit focus group, a youth day, a citywide church service, a soul food cook-off and car show and fireworks display.

Juneteenth, also referred to as Freedom Day, Emancipation Day and Jubilee Day, celebrates the arrival of federal troops, under Union Gen. Gordon Granger, on June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, where Granger announced that more than 250,000 enslaved people were free. It came more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863 — and two months after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia.

Juneteenth honors the official end of slavery in the U.S. In June 2021, it became an official federal holiday.

What also has become official is the desire of Jeremiah A. Aashir and his wife, Brittney B. Aashir, to make a positive difference in the community.

“We rebuild the family, reform the community and restore the individual,” Jeremiah Aashir said, referring to the three main prongs of Walking in My Truth Inc., established in 2020. “We believe in a holistic approach to bring change and transformation to every aspect of life.”

Brittney Aashir and her husband are the organization’s executive director and operations manager, respectively.

Walking in My Truth operates on the premise that, via collaboration and centered on mentorship, a direct connection exists between strong individuals, strong families and strong communities, said Jeremiah Aashir, who has dealt with his own life challenges. Those who are privy to what needs to be addressed also are in the best position to affect meaningful change, he added.

“We believe that those closest to the problem are closest to the solution,” Aashir continued.

One of the organization’s programs is called Jumping through Adversity Double Dutch, which gives young people an added tool to constructively handle difficult and negative situations, trials and tribulations that arise in their lives.

It is patterned after the Double Dutch jump rope game in which two long ropes are simultaneously turned in opposite directions, allowing participants to jump into and out of the rotating ropes and create different steps and moves within the space. Its origins can be traced back to the Dutch settlers’ arrival in New Amsterdam (now New York City), followed by the English, who saw children playing the game, then coined the name.

The Juneteenth celebration also had a host of businesses and organizations such as Stambaugh Charter Academy, Evolve, South Side Academy, Mahoning County Children Services, Alta Head Start, the Youngstown Urban Minority Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Outreach Program, and a pop-up library, courtesy of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County. Other vendors were selling handmade and costume jewelry, T-shirts and other articles of clothing, necklaces, and wearable art pieces.

Several food trucks were parked under the Market Street Bridge.

“I’ve been painting since I was a little girl, and my family always encouraged me to spread out and bless others with my gift,” Precious Robinson, who opened a business last month called Unique’s Imagination, said.

Robinson, with help from her sister, Mercedes Monroe, was selling artwork she crafted mostly freehand with acrylic, gloss and matte paints. The 2013 Chaney High School graduate also hopes to attend an art school, possibly in Pittsburgh, she said.

Monroe, however, was more than a sibling who merely was helping Robinson sell artwork. Monroe also was instrumental in encouraging her sister to return to drawing and painting after a five- or six-year hiatus, Robinson added.