Citing cost and safety concerns, organizers of the annual Leimert Park Juneteenth Festival in South L.A. announced that they are canceling the celebratory event until next year.
The announcement was posted Monday on the festival’s website, where organizers said they were unable to raise enough funds to safely host a large-scale celebration.
“Since assuming full responsibility for the festival’s production and logistics in 2020, we have all witnessed the extraordinary growth, reaching an attendance of over 50,000 and an impressive 800,000 live stream views on Amazon Prime last year,” the statement read. “However, the rise in permit costs, logistical expenses, and necessary safety measures have surpassed our current budget.”
Organizers did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday. But on the festival’s Instagram account, one person wrote that the cost of insurance coverage, city permits, security and barriers such as fencing had increased from last year.
“Also we were told we could not have stages [or] live entertainment in the Village,” wrote Chace Infinite. “So we planned to move the entertainment portion to the [Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza] to better control safety issues, this made the footprint of the festival even larger.”
The cancellation of the event comes two weeks before thousands of people were expected to gather in Leimert Park to celebrate Black history, culture and Juneteenth (June 19), the U.S. holiday commemorating the day in 1865 when enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, were informed that they were free, marking the end of slavery.
In the past, the free block party event — which was started by Texas native Jonathan Leonard in 1949 after he moved to Los Angeles, long before Juneteenth became an official holiday in 2021 — included stage performances, food trucks and Black-owned businesses selling their wares including jewelry and clothes.
Organizers said in the statement that the event has generated more than $1 million in sales.
“It stands as one of the largest Black community events in Los Angeles, second only to Taste of Soul,” the statement read. “This festival is a labor of love, driven by our deep commitment to our community and our culture.”
But the event has grown so much it has raised safety concerns. Last year, just before a Grammy-winning R&B singer was about to perform, dozens of people panicked and fled after hearing reports of a shooting, forcing organizers to end the event early. Police had also responded to a report of a fight and robbery at a nearby McDonald’s, where a small crowd tried to force open cash registers, most of which was captured by cellphones and posted on social media.
“Our commitment to providing a high-quality and safe festival experience necessitates this difficult decision,” organizers said in their statement. “We refuse to compromise on the integrity and spirit of Juneteenth by delivering anything less than what our community deserves.”
Organizers say while the event has been postponed until next year, they hope people will still show up to Leimert Park informally to celebrate the holiday.
“We will be back next year, better than ever,” Infinite wrote on Instagram. “In the meantime, there will still be vendors and people in the Village to celebrate Juneteenth.”
