Last Juneteenth, I put a tiny symbol of the classic raised fist in a tiny miniature garden that apparently disturbed a follower on Facebook. Despite the glaring chasm between the huge movement and that tiny raised fist icon in that tiny garden, I vowed to do better.

And I should have figured it out weeks ago because, well, I had a year to work on it. But was a very busy spring for us here at America’s only Miniature Garden Center – thanks to the extreme summer weather we had in early May. Lol!

But normally, when I’m trying to decorate a miniature garden for any occasion, I focus on the colors of the occasion, then rely on my own miniature banners to help bring home the message. Paired with a couple of strategically-colored miniature accessories, I can usually bring home any occasion.

Not this time. My printer was not cooperating with me – maybe I missed its birthday or something – and now my ol’ go-to idea was not going to work.

And it’s Juneteeth and I got nothing… arg.

Why isn’t Juneteenth a thing yet?

Then I started thinking about the difficulty about building a movement. The difficulty of motivating people to act. The difficulty of motivating industries to act to adapt to another way of celebrating who we are… I realized that the movement behind Juneteenth, while being much, much more popular and much more important to honor than this humble hobby of gardening in miniature, still has an upward battle as well.

Getting the general public to embrace Freedom Day – or getting the world to adapt to a brand new hobby – requires the industries around it to participate for it to work. For me, the hobby of gardening in miniature has yet to be recognized by the garden industry – which is very disappointing. Because I’m the only one left standing that promotes it, I imagine any of my attempts at getting any of the big garden websites to acknowledge it, or any of my fellow independent garden center owners to make room for it, must look like I’ll be the only one that benefits. So, here we are with that… (if I keep rolling my eyes back, they’ll stay there. :o)

What to Do?

But, for Juneteenth – a much bigger movement that truly involves healing the wounds of this country – deserves better – much better. The gift industry needs to start producing decorations for Juneteenth to help people realize that it is a celebration that can involve everyone. The media is slowly reporting on it, which is good to see but they can do more in advance to get people on board. It would be nice if the restaurant industry can pick it up somehow via the food and entertaining.

It only became a federal holiday in 2021 but I really think we can do better with this one. Got any ideas?

Celebrating a Way Forward

And before you come at me for supporting Juneteenth and Freedom Day because I’m not black, please note that I am not a religious yet I celebrate Christmas. I am not Jewish but I genuinely wish people a Happy Hanukkah (and enjoy the food whenever I can.) I’m not American but I celebrate with everyone else on July 4th with a beer and a barbecue. When our football team wins big at then end of a season, I cheer along with everyone else even though I didn’t sit through a single game – okay, I’m there for the food too. Lol!

And, because life is full of contradictions, I am Irish but I don’t celebrate St. Patrick’s Day (save for decorating a miniature garden, :o) simply because I don’t see St. Patrick as anybody else but another manufactured dude… Lol!

I just like celebrating but, more importantly, I enjoy seeing others celebrate.

So, let us all embrace this occasion to celebrate another part of being human, free to enjoy what we want to enjoy and free to support what we want to support. Juneteenth is part of American history and history does not go away – so why not celebrate it?

Happy Juneteenth!