An artist's depiction of "Ancestor’s Future: Crystallizing Our Call," public artwork planned for Ashland Creek Park.

Two Juneteenth celebrations are planned in the Rogue Valley, each one a fundraiser.

Black Alliance for Social Empowerment is hosting an event from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, June 17, at Pear Blossom Park in Medford. It’s the third year in a row the group has organized an event to celebrate Black culture and history, support local Black-owned businesses and raise money for BASE’s work throughout the year.

The other event will be held in Ashland from 11:30 to 2:30 p.m. Sunday, June 18. This event will also feature Black artists and business owners, but the event in Ashland Creek Park in the Railroad District, 27 E. Hersey St., is a fundraiser for the public art piece “Crystalizing Our Call: Ancestor’s Future” by artist Micah Blacklight.

“For our community, this is one of the main events I’ve been able to attend and see people from all across our community, and that’s really significant,” BASE Vice President Jessica Freedman said by telephone.

Artists are coming from Portland and Seattle this year and from around the valley. D.J Gemineye and Tyrone Hendrix, Ekome Drumming Band, No BS, Ratie D and the Afroscoutz Youth Program will perform.

The event intends to “provide a platform for community leaders, and create a fun environment where both youths and adults can commemorate this moment in our history and enrich understanding of our collective journey toward equity,” Freedman wrote in a news release.

Saturday’s event not only celebrates Black history, it also supports BASE’s work more broadly.

“This is a huge fundraiser for us. We have youth programs, the police liaison program — we do so many free community events, and we want to be able to provide them to the community,” she said.

For $1, attendees can purchase raffle tickets for this year’s Britt Festival concerts, she said. BASE merchandise will also be for sale to support the group’s programs and events throughout the year.

“We want to make Southern Oregon a place that feels like home for everybody, a community that includes everyone, and we want to create events and provide opportunities for people to come together,” she said of BASE’s mission.

Sunday’s event was slated for Ashland Creek Park because it’s the future home of “Crystalizing Our Call: Ancestor’s Future.” The sculpture was approved by the city of Ashland last year as a permanent memorial for Black lives lost to racial violence, but the sculpture is waiting on the fundraising campaign to help reach the $130,000 price tag for the piece, said Cassie Preskenis, a member of the Say Their Names coalition and the Ashland Public Arts Commission.

“Micah said it so eloquently. He chose this park because it doesn’t really have an identity of its own. He was offered some pretty sweet spots. He could have had it right in the lawn at the entrance to Lithia Park, a spot in Railroad Park, too,” she said.

BlackLight has applied for grants and secured 10% of the funding from the nonprofit Ashland Parks Foundation. But Sunday’s event will help the Say Their Names Collective to formally begin the fundraising effort and hopefully recruit more interested volunteers to help make the sculpture a reality.

“This sculpture is marking a moment in Ashland’s history when we publicly acknowledged violence against Black people,” Preskenis said.

The event will feature art-making stations, with crafting supplies available for all attendees as a nod to one of the aspects of the future public art piece. Eventually, when the sculpture is created, a community event will be held to paint stones that will encircle it and provide a sense of communal ownership, she said.

The event is also intended to marry Juneteenth with Father’s Day, she said. The group hopes families will come out together to enjoy the event.

Black-owned businesses such as Freddie Lee’s Seafood Smorgasbord and Jack Frost’s shaved ice will be on hand, while singer-songwriter Lara Olamina will perform. Cyrise Beatty and Stefan Schachter with “Plan Be,” Felipe of Os Alquimistas and Toni Lxor will also be at the event, and BlackLight will be available to talk about the sculpture, according to a news release sent by the Say Their Names Collective.