El Centro city officials say missing permits lead to cancellation of Juneteenth event

Juneteenth, known as the end of slavery, was supposed to be a day of celebration for community members in El Centro. When event goers showed up to the community center where it was held, the doors were locked. City official say they reached out to event organizers Friday afternoon when they noticed health and insurance permits were missing.

“You know, I can understand where maybe there was a misunderstanding. Again, because we were co-sponsoring by proving the community center, that maybe they thought that maybe they didn’t have to provide insurance coverage,” said Marcela Piedra, El Centro City Manager.

Event organizer, Reverend Markco Kind said there was a breakdown in communication once he turned in what he thought was everything he needed for the event. “Corrections were made. Another phone call was made. And we were told good to go. So there was communication…2 o’clock Friday afternoon and 2 o’clock Saturday afternoon. That’s where the meltdown happened.”

City officials attempted to notify King once they realized document were incomplete. Piedra said, “Oh he was notified immediately. Those documents were dropped off like from what I understand, around 1 o’clock. And so he was…staff did make contact with him.”

King however isn’t looking for someone to blame but rather work together with the city so something like this never happens again. Kind said, “And this is not what we want. We don’t want to be us agains’t them and the government. We want it to be us all together. Working together to achieve the things that will all of us happy.”

King hopes that the city will treat Juneteenth an important holiday for the African American community, just as they treat the fourth of July and the Mexican Independence.