Alexandra Dashiell, a Girl Scout, and her sister, Tatiana from Chester, Virginia, sold candles.
The Zumba music boomed off the stage and Ebony Moss led 15 high-spirited women in an energetic, celebratory workout to jump-start the Gum Springs community’s Juneteenth celebration on June 20 in Mount Vernon’s Martin Luther King Park.
Over five hours on a gloriously sunny day, festival-goers indulged in catfish, chicken, hotdogs and popcorn
Sylvia Byrd presided at the Gum Springs community’s Juneteenth celebration on June 20 in Mount Vernon’s Martin Luther King Park and made announcements throughout the day.
Sylvia Byrd, president of the Gum Springs Youth Athletic Association and a 20-year resident, urged everyone to support each other. “Juneteenth and Community Day bring the community together at a time when everyone is so busy. It’s a joyous occasion and wonderful way to celebrate one another,” Byrd said, adding that the food truck would arrive soon. It was a day of sharing and giving back.
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay attended, and reported in his newsletter that he honored “the life of Mattie L. Palmore, a longtime community leader whose advocacy for families, survivors of domestic violence and residents in need left a lasting mark on Gum Springs and Fairfax County. Through decades of service, she helped strengthen community support systems and ensure that residents had access to the resources and assistance they needed.” He also presented a Fatherhood Awareness Month proclamation to Jermaine Mincey, a graduate of one of the county’s Dads Parenting Groups.
Many Services Featured
Paisley was the canine star of the day, one of the Fairfax County police force’s five “bomb dogs,” explained her handler, police officer Brian Storm. Officers train Paisley, a golden-Labrador-retriever mix, to sniff out explosive odors, substances like TNT, dynamite and black powder. “For her, it’s a game,” Storm said. She is so good she can detect thousands of odors, he said, like shell casings after a shooting. If a school has a bomb scare, she can sweep schools. Thank you, many passersby said.
Kimberly Dade from Woodbridge’s Faith Works sold t-shirts with faith-based designs. Dawn Jefferson with the Insight Memory Care Center, a nonprofit, described their services that help families coping with dementia. They offer support groups and workshops, for example. They estimate that in Northern Virginia nearly 60,000 people are living with some form of dementia.
ICNA Relief, one of the 45-group Islamic Relief USA in 45 states, helps people with health and refugee services, emergency relief and food security, for example.
Laura (Lollie) Rinehardt, who grew up in Tauxemont, makes the trek from Virginia Beach to promote the Virginia Williams High School Career Association founded to honor her mother and offer student scholarships. Virginia Williams was the Guidance Director at Mount Vernon High School.
Girl Scout Troop 53021, based at Hollin Meadows Elementary School, sold handmade candles. Alexandra Dashiell explained that her troop members volunteer at the Gum Springs Retirement Center at bingo nights and tea parties. They help mentor students at Hybla Valley Elementary School.
The Mount Vernon Democratic Committee and the NAACP’s Fairfax County chapter recruited and urged people to vote.
In addition to the Fairfax County Police Department, multiple county agencies described their services, including family services, emergency management and community response.
Gum Springs
Gum Springs is Fairfax County’s oldest African-American community, founded in 1833 by West Ford, a freed, formerly enslaved man who had worked on George Washington’s plantation.
The name Gum Springs comes from the sweet gum trees near the spring where George Washington watered his horses going to and from his Mount Vernon plantation, said Ronald Chase, President of the Gum Springs Historical Society.