Montanya and Crested Butte Celebrate Juneteenth
Juneteenth, established as a federal holiday last year, is a holiday that Montanya cares deeply about commemorating. As a company committed to uplifting underrepresented groups, we believe Juneteenth is a holiday of acknowledgment, remembrance, and celebration for the black community and America as a whole.
The Brothers of Brass band playing at the Crested Butte Center for the Arts on Juneteenth.
This year on June 19th, our Crested Butte community came together to honor and recognize Juneteenth with food, music, poetry, a parade, dance, and much more. Melanin Mountain Project, in collaboration with the Center for the Arts and sponsored by Montanya Distillers, hosted authors, poets, artists, dancers, musicians, and drummers to honor the Black community alongside organizer Chloe Bowman Amuah, The Kissidugu Foundation, and others. Montanya founder and owner, Karen Hoskin, hosted the talented poets of Dark Goddess Collective at her home for the weekend and volunteered time for setting up and breakdown of the multi-venue event.
"Let's make Juneteenth a commemorative, not of the horrific institution our country embraced, but rather as a showcase of the strength in the American spirit to recognize wrong and set about making it right. In this same spirit America moves ahead today in leveling playing fields and achieving ever greater equality. Let us celebrate all that Juneteenth teaches us about our country's greatness in our use of the heart to hear and to learn and to work together for all that is good and just." -John Albuquerque
Poets from the Dark Goddess Collective.
We believe it is long overdue that Juneteenth is recognized as a federal holiday. We continue to look for tangible ways to support and uplift the Black community in the Gunnison Valley in a political and social environment that is deeply worrisome on many levels, especially given recent police violence against Jayland Walker. To learn more about Juneteenth, visit www.juneteenth.com.
View scenes from the Crested Butte celebration: