Organizers and vendors hoping for good times and good vibes.
On April 7, two different organizations put out press releases within six hours of each other. They independently announced that two of Central Oregon’s biggest cultural events, Latino Fest and Juneteenth, would not be happening this year.
Fear and uncertainty have been permeating through Central Oregon’s communities of color since President Donald Trump was elected for a second time last year, and some advocates say their unease never really went away after his first term ended.
The Fathers Group and the Latino Community Association are Central Oregon nonprofits focused on supporting Black and Latino communities, and the organizers of Bend’s Juneteenth celebration and the Latino Fest. In those separate but similar announcements this spring, the organizations said they could not guarantee the safety at the events, from either racist attacks or raids by immigration enforcement agents.
Missing out on Black and Latin celebrations has economic as well as cultural impact; when culturally specific events like these go away, people can lose a place to be themselves or celebrate their heritage while exposing others to the nuances and multiple facets of a community.
Latino Community Association executive director Catalina Sánchez Frank told OPB in January that Latino Fest’s future was uncertain after Trump began his crackdown on Latino immigrants living and working in the United States. A Latino man in Bend was detained the weekend after the presidential inauguration, a precursor to the wave of immigration enforcement across the country over the past several weeks.
And the Fathers Group, which has organized Juneteenth for the last three years, initially canceled this year’s planned event because of fear and concern over safety in Bend’s Drake Park. Kenneth Adams, the nonprofit’s executive director, told OPB when news broke that the decision was “community conscious when it comes to safety.”
Adams said seeing people become “invigorated” online and the current political climate, including pushes from the federal government to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs, led to the cancellation. He added that word of mouth and past experiences of racism and anti-Black harassment in Central Oregon were contributing factors.
But losing these kinds of annual celebrations has more than just momentary consequences in a place as demographically unbalanced as Central Oregon. Culturally specific celebrations such as Juneteenth, Latino Fest and Pride are important in Central Oregon, organizers say, because they give people a safe place to be themselves in a part of the region where that’s not always a given.
When events are canceled it can sometimes be the difference between feeling like a person belongs in Central Oregon or doesn’t.
Joslyn Stanfield grew up in Oregon and Idaho, and helped organize the first Juneteenth celebration in Bend in 2020. When she heard it was being canceled this year, she thought, “No, this can’t happen.”
Juneteenth marks the final day African Americans were informed of their freedom from enslavement. For Stanfield and others, maintaining a space where Black people can celebrate and be themselves free from fear and judgement was non-negotiable.
Real fears in small populations
The Black and African communities in Central Oregon are small. According to 2025 American Community Survey data, Black and African people and people who are Black and multiracial make up about 1% of the population in Deschutes County. That’s about the same for Jefferson County and slightly higher than Crook County.
In Central Oregon, Black people say they deal with racism on micro and macro levels. In 2017, Deshaun Adderley, a Summit High School freshman, died by suicide after he was bullied for being Black, according to a lawsuit Adderley’s family filed in Deschutes County court.
In 2021, Ian MacKenzie Cranston, who is white, shot and killed Barry Washington Jr., a Black 22-year old, in downtown Bend outside a night club during an altercation. The incident that led to Washington’s death started with Washington complimenting and approaching Cranston’s girlfriend. Cranston was eventually convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
And in early 2024, people hurled racial slurs at Black city staff and committee members during a Human Rights and Equity Commission meeting. The next month, Commissioner Carolyn Peacock-Biggs repeatedly found racial slurs graffitied on the sidewalk near her house.
The demographics and historic politics of Central Oregon mean people in other historically marginalized populations can feel a similar fear.
However, not every cultural event was canceled this year. Bend Pride took place on June 7 in Drake Park.
Under a fierce pre-summer sun, people filled the park despite concerns about potential acts of hate and violence. An intergenerational mix of people from across Central Oregon strolled around a tight cluster of booths offering social services, secondhand clothes, art and Pride-themed tchotchkes while live music, deejays and drag performers played in the background.
But Pride organizers had their own reservations. Brooklyn Wagner, the secretary and communication and marketing manager for Bend Pride Coalition, said event organizers doubled their security from last year and trained volunteers to deescalate unsafe or potentially violent interactions. Wagner still heard from people before the event who feared for their safety.
The majority of the community, however, wanted Pride to happen, she said. This year’s theme was “We’re not going back.”
She said there were minor altercations that were deescalated and that people drove by the park yelling homophobic slurs and burning out their tires as they drove away.
Last year, Bend city crews painted a crosswalk in rainbow colors ahead of Bend Pride’s inaugural event. Within 24 hours someone had scored it with tire marks. Later that year, the road was repaved and the crosswalk was not repainted, said city staffer Jacob Larsen.
“We heard from community members that the crosswalk was a meaningful symbol of support for the 2SLGBTIA+ community, but also that the vandalism was causing harm,” he said.
Now, Larsen said, the city is exploring other avenues for the rainbow crosswalk.
Luan Losinksi showed up at Bend’s Pride celebration with two friends. He said attending wasn’t even a question.
“Even with the fear and hate, I still think this is so important and so beautiful and gives me so much joy,” Losinski said, “Even with the concern, from stuff going on, it was just a non-negotiable.”
Event organizers, like last year, did not request Bend police presence at the event per the community’s request. Wagner said Pride organizers wanted to make sure people felt safe and free to be themselves.
“We need them when we have to have them,” she said, but the organizers didn’t want to push their presence on “these kinds of minority groups.” Wagner said she did see Bend police vehicles drive past the park often. She said it felt like they were “checking in” on the event and “that felt really good, too.”
The Central Oregon Peacekeepers were also in attendance. The volunteer group started in 2020 and provides security at protests, rallies and cultural celebrations, on their own or when invited.
Making Juneteenth happen
Stanfield said when she heard that the second annual Bend Pride celebration was still happening, she was relieved.
Wagner said Bend Pride Coalition had meetings with queer community members and other community organizations about whether Pride should happen and how. Coalition president Jacob Redding and Wagner would not say which organizations they consulted with.
Like the organizers of Bend Pride, Stanfield and co-organizer Kasia Moon are taking a stand and creating a space for communities targeted by hate to collectively breathe and experience joy.
It’s one big example of the ways Black business owners support each other in Central Oregon.
Jermaine Ellis owns Jermaican JerkCulture. The name is a play on his father’s name, which is also Jermaine. They started the business together, and the younger Jermaine Ellis has been catering since 2022. He just opened a new food truck in nearby Sisters. Ellis’ family is Jamaican and he cooks the food he’s been eating his whole life, food he was taught to love and prepare by his parents and grandmother.
After trying to make his way in different industries, he found freedom in owning his own business. He said everyone in Central Oregon’s Black community should have their own small business.
Ellis credits Adams, executive director of the Fathers Group, and DaWayne Judd, owner of Mirror Pond Dry Cleaners, with helping him navigate his business. He said Judd helped him find his path by talking about “owning the land and owning the business,” to create longevity and stability for the future.
Stanfield says owning a small business can be transformative for the Black community when it comes to building intergenerational wealth in Oregon, a place that was founded as a whites-only state.
“I think it’s so incredibly important that we support people like that,” she said, “to kind of shift the balance.”
Stanfield and Moon are both entrepreneurs and have sold at Juneteenth events in the past. Stanfield said vending at events is an important part of her business model. Last year Juneteenth attendees could purchase clothing, jewelry and candles, among other things.
“That’s a huge day for us,” Stanfield said. She’s a candle-maker and Juneteenth is where she sells the most candles. Adams estimated 15,000 people attended last year’s Juneteenth celebration in Bend.
Ellis sold food at Juneteenth in Bend for the past two years. He called Drake Park a prime location, and good for attracting lots of people, but he said, “safety is a number one concern — we do live in Central Oregon.”
This year’s event will host an estimated 20 Black vendors from across the state, including the Fathers Group.
The theme for this year’s Junenteenth celebration in Central Oregon is “Unbothered. Unbossed. Unbroken.” The event is being held in spite of credible fears of safety that have taken root in Central Oregon’s diverse communities.
Stanfield said this year’s Juneteenth event will also have private security provided by the Central Oregon Peacekeepers. Over the years, they’ve been a steady presence at some Central Oregon events.
Drake Park is hard to secure without a large security team, she said. Having the event indoors at Open Space Studios will help organizers not have to worry as much about unseen threats.
Stanfield said she didn’t consider Drake Park when making plans with Moon to hold Juneteenth.
“It’s a really big space,” she said, noting that Central Oregon’s Black community is small. They opted instead to create an event that was more akin, she said, to what Juneteenth should be: a chance to hang out with your friends, cooking, listening to music.
That’s exactly how Ellis would describe the Juneteenth celebrations he’s experienced before coming to Oregon.
“I was born in New York,” said Ellis, who also lived in Florida for a time before coming to Oregon. “I was always around diverse people.”
He called holidays like Juneteenth and Black History Month “outspoken.”
On the East Coast, Ellis said Juneteenth celebrations were block parties, with people grilling in front of their houses, “every two, three houses” and loud music into the night where even grandparents join in.
“The fire hydrants, they’re loose, water is spraying — it’s truly Black,” Ellis said. “It’s a different vibe, it’s a different element, and you can just feel the presence of being Black.”
With Open Space Event Studios, Stanfield said she and Moon are hoping to replicate that intimate feeling and unapologetic, authentic Blackness.
“We want to dance, we want music, we want a vibe,” she said.
If holding the space inside, in a secured location would help people feel safer and more relaxed, she’s happy to do it.
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.