The Homewood-Flossmoor community celebrated Juneteenth with a vibrant parade followed by a block party at Parker Junior High School.

The 2025 Juneteenth Parade began at Western Avenue Elementary School and marched down Flossmoor Road to Parker.

Attendees at the block party enjoyed live music from DJ Chicago Rambo, various food trucks, inflatables and activities for children, and the opportunity to support Black-owned vendors. Community resource booths were also available, offering information and connections.

Destiny Watson of You Matter 2, the organization behind the event, noted the change in location this year.

“While we wish we could have had the big-scale festival, we did have to scale back. The festival costs a lot of money to put together,” Watson said. “We still wanted to celebrate Juneteenth, so doing this on a much smaller scale still allows us to connect with the community.”

She expressed hope to bring the festival back to Homewood-Flossmoor High School in the future.

Watson highlighted the parade’s success, calling it “probably our largest parade that we’ve had.” She encouraged community involvement with You Matter 2’s youth programs, noting they are “always looking for more supporters, whether that’s volunteers or donations and board members as well.”

Muriel Lee, who represented Homewood and won first runner-up in the 2025 Ms. Illinois Corporate America competition, participated in the parade and shared her perspective on the event’s importance.

“It’s important to remember the history of African American people, about where we came from and where we are going,” Lee said.

Commenting on the day itself, she added, “It’s great weather. The sun came out, for God knows this was the day the Lord had made, and we’re going to rejoice.”

You Matter 2 recently celebrated a decade of empowering South Suburban youth.