NILES, Mich. -- Downtown Niles celebrated their annual Juneteenth Festival with some western spirit.
June 19 is recognized as Juneteenth, a federal holiday observing the emancipation of enslaved African Americans.
As the streets filled with cowboy hats and boots, everyone made their way to Plym Park to enjoy live music and performances, different vendors, and the Juneteenth parade.
Lawerence Giden is a local author and vendor at the festival. This is Giden's fourth year attending, but his first time selling his book. For Giden, this event means more than just business.
"I'm a cancer survivor, so I'm thankful to god that I'm living to see this day and celebrate good health," Giden said. He's also an activist for the Black community, which is the main focus of his book.
Giden's book goes hand-in-hand with this year's festival theme: Free Your Mind. Created by co-founders Ylonda Scott and Tira Williams. They were inspired after dealing with their own family's mental health challenges and wanted to provide resources to the community.
"There are a lot of individuals that are living life and don't know that they can be free from the mental illness that they're dealing with, so we tied it in that free your mind, because freedom is available to everybody," Scott said.
Scott and William's mission is to make sure no one feels behind, no matter who you are. That message was the common ground many attendees had in mind.
"When you look around here, it's white, black, green, orange, everybody is here and that's what it's all about. Everyone is coming here for a common cause," Gino Johnson said.
The Juneteenth festival is just one way the Niles community banded together, but several community members shared that the support shouldn't end here but should continue to thrive.