Juneteenth 2023

Ultimate guide to jubilant Juneteenth celebrations in Houston, Galveston, and beyond

Juneteenth has been a federal holiday since 2021 and a state holiday in 1980. But here in the Gulf Coast region, locals have been celebrating since 1865. The cherished day marks the day Union soldiers arrived in Galveston and declared to the slaves there that they had been freed.

Sadly, it took two years for news that President Abraham Lincoln has issued the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation to reach area slaves. But rather than react with anger at the delay, they immediately toasted the discovery that they were free with dance, feasts, prayers, and more.

Here in Houston and Galveston, a host of Juneteenth-themed events abound. Venues all around the Greater Houston area and beyond will toast the day with concerts, food, festivals, movies, and more.

New for this year, a vivid mural by artist Chris Robinson at Bagby Park (415 Gray St.) celebrates Juneteenth by highlighting Houston’s historically Black neighborhoods: Freedman’s Town (also referred to as Fourth Ward), Fifth Ward, Independence Heights, Acres Homes, Sunnyside, South Park, and Third Ward. Each letter of the word "Midtown" represents one of the neighborhoods. The mural will be up through July 7.

Galveston

Of course, the birthplace of Juneteenth will bring it. Locals can check out all the events at Visit Galveston — from balls, comedy, concerts, cookouts, cruises, festivals, religious services, and much more. Highlights include a ball, concert at the stunning Grand 1894 Opera House, cruises, festivals and markets, and much more. The celebrations run this week through Monday.

Photo via Mayor's Office Houston

Little stars will be on parade at Mayor Turner's Annual Acres Home Juneteenth Parade.

Thursday, June 15

Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and SOA Books Co. will celebrate Juneteenth with a Liberation Market. Swing by, support Black literary arts, and peruse the market for art, music, and drinks throughout the event.. 6:30 pm.

Rooftop Cinema Club Uptown is having Juneteenth screenings all throughout the month. Among the movies that’ll be playing: Set It Off, Juice, What’s Love Got to Do With It, Get Out, and Coming to America. 7:15 pm.

Friday, June 16

The Juneteenth Sneaker Ball will go down somewhere in downtown Houston this weekend. Ebony (aka Princess Streetwize) and Shiloh Williams will host this event, and they’ll be giving awards to people with the best African-themed attire/dope sneakers fit. 5 pm.

Miller Outdoor Theatre will present "Juneteenth at Miller Outdoor Theatre: A Celebration of Freedom." The two-day concert event will be a musical journey that embraces the sound of blues, classic rhythm & blues, and hip-hop. 8:15 pm.

Saturday, June 17

Children’s Museum Houston will celebrate Juneteenth with three days’ worth of events. There will be a live show about the vital contributions of African Americans, as well as a commemorative, poetic production put on by Ensemble Theatre. 10 am.

Emancipation Park Conservancy will start things off with an inaugural Juneteenth Freedom Run/Walk. Later in the day, there will also be a Juneteenth Music Festival at 3 pm, featuring music from The SOS Band, Lakeside, and Step Rideau & the Zydeco Outlaws. 10 am.

Mayor Turner’s Annual Acres Homes Juneteenth Parade will go down this weekend. The parade begins at Acres Homes Multi-Service Center, then travels north on W. Montgomery, west on Dolly Wright, and ends at Greater Zion Missionary Baptist Church. 10 am.

Finn Hall will have a block party celebrating Juneteenth. Stop by The Smoke, Swallow’s Nest, Craft Burger, Three Keys, and Carol Kays, the newest spot, to support the Hall’s Black-owned restaurants. Noon.

Razzle Dazzle My Canvas will celebrate the culture with a day full of fun, games, food, and live entertainment. Vendors will be there with some of the best food, oils, clothes, desserts, and items that you have ever experienced. Noon.

BLCK Market will have its fourth annual Juneteenth Celebration over at Greenstreet. Celebrate Juneteenth with the largest gathering of Black-onwed businesses and entrepreneurs. They will also have a Juneteenth event on Sunday. 1 pm.

Generation Park is hosting its inaugural Juneteenth Celebration at Redemption Square. Visitors can enjoy a market with local, minority-owned vendors, live music expanding many genres, speeches from elected officials, and visual & performing arts. 3 pm.

Club Sienna’s Sienna Juneteenth Jubilee will feature performances by the Reggie Jamz Band and Swag Boiz, as well as the TSU Tigers Sensations dance team. The market will showcase jewelry, art, books, candles, clothing, snacks, houseware and more. 7 pm.

Sunday, June 18

Ray’s BBQ Shack and STUFF’D Wings will join forces for a weekend full of Juneteenth stuff, including a Juneteenth/Father’s Day block party on Sunday. They will debut their new, limited-time menu items and will also have a huge surprise unveiling. 11 am.

Da Hookah Plug Lounge will get its paint, sip and brunch on for Juneteenth. Join them for a delicious lunch (or brunch) that will lead into some sipping and painting. There will also be a comedy show at 3 pm. 12:30 pm.

Lagoonfest Texas will present its Juneteenth Festival, featuring performances by Smokin' Joe Leonard, Blaque Vinyls, and the CC Rider Band. Guests will get to enjoy water activities or relax on the white sandy beach while they soak in the sounds. 1 pm.

Monday, June 19

The Tasting Room in Galveston will have a Juneteenth show featuring music and comedy. Violinist Dominique Hammons will come with the tunes, while Liz Faubles Wallace will come with the laughs. 4 pm.

Historic Eldorado Ballroom and Highway Vodka will debut “Libations for Liberation,” a cocktail competition commemorating Juneteenth. The competition will task 10 local bartenders with creating libations that embody the spirit of the national holiday. 6 pm.

Movie Review

New horror movie Faces of Death puts a modern twist on cult classic

Photo courtesy of of IFC Films

Dacre Montgomery in Faces of Death.

True horror fans will likely be familiar with the 1978 cult film Faces of Death, which purported to be a documentary showing real-life killings in gory detail. It didn’t, of course, but that didn’t stop rumors from continuing to spread for decades. Now, almost 50 years and multiple sequels later, comes a new version of Faces of Death, an actual movie that pays homage to the original in interesting ways.

Margot (Barbie Ferreira) works at a YouTube-like company called Kino as a content moderator, flagging videos that violate the company’s policies. This means her job often involves seeing some truly despicable things from all manner of depraved people. One day, though, she comes across a video that seems a little too real, and after seeing more similar videos, she starts to believe they’re genuine murders.

Going against her company NDA, she starts to investigate the videos on her own, which puts her on the radar of Arthur (Dacre Montgomery), who is actually kidnapping people and killing them on camera through methods seen in the original Faces of Death film. It’s not long before Arthur tracks her down, with a plan to make her one of his next victims.

Written and directed by Daniel Goldhaber (How to Blow Up a Pipeline) and co-written by Isa Mazzei, the film is not so much scary as it is creepy, with the occasional gross-out sequence. The idea of having someone emulate the killings in the cult film is a good idea, and pairing it with the modern-day attention economy — in which content creators go to increasing lengths for clicks — is a clever twist on a concept that other films have done.

The film as a whole is a commentary on how social media and video sharing sites have often decided to prioritize profits over the well-being of their users. Margot is shown allowing videos involving violence and sexual assault to stay on the site while nixing ones depicting how to use Narcan or demonstrating putting on a condom on a banana. Josh (Jermaine Fowler), Margot’s boss, is even explicit in the company mandate that outrageous videos drive views.

While Arthur has the makings of a good villain, there are few attempts to make him seem truly diabolical. His kidnappings often seem more spur-of-the-moment than calculated, and even though he has a well thought-out dungeon at home, the house’s location in the suburbs seems to make him vulnerable to easy discovery. Goldhaber and Mazzei leave more than a few unanswered questions along the way that take away from the intensity of the story.

Ferreira is yet another actor from Euphoria who’s capitalizing on her exposure from that show. She plays Margot’s increasing anxiety well, and when the action ratchets up in the final act, she meets the moment in a satisfying way. Montgomery returns to the vibe he had while playing the evil Billy on Stranger Things, and even though his character doesn’t fully live up to his potential, Montgomery sells his evil for all it’s worth.

The new Faces of Death may not be what some are expecting given the reputation of the previous films, but it’s a solid horror/thriller that uses the brand as a launching pad into something different. It doesn’t make much of a dent in the scare department, but it does give its violence and gore a degree of relevance in today’s often desensitized world.

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Faces of Death is now playing in theaters.

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