Concerns over venue and outstanding debt put Pittsburgh's Juneteenth festival into question

Juneteenth is a national holiday celebrating Black emancipation, but this year's festival in Pittsburgh is in doubt.

For the past two years, promoter B. Marshall and the city have knocked heads over his Juneteenth festival in Point State Park, and this year's plan to move the event to Mellon Park in the city's East End is no exception.

"Every year, it seems to be like a different issue that comes up. Regretfully," he said.

Marshall has not yet been approved for two permits: one from the city to use the park and another from PennDOT to close down Penn Avenue. 

While Councilwoman Erika Strassburger says she'd like to work with Marshall, she has heard from surrounding neighborhoods that oppose shutting down Penn and think the park is too small, especially for a headlining concert by R&B artist Morris Day.

"Holding a concert that could attract 10,000, maybe even 20,000 people, at Mellon Park feels as if it's too high a usage and too much pressure on such a small amount of land," she said.

But Marshall has rejected suggestions to move the festival to the more expansive Hazelwood Green, saying Mellon has ample space.

"Ten thousand people inside Mellon Park each day will look like it's empty," he said.

In a statement, PennDOT says a permit to close Penn Avenue has neither been approved nor denied, saying the "applicant needs to address several issues." Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak said the city's approval is largely dependent on whether Penn Avenue is shut down.

"The only concerns that we have are how to adequately route transportation around the area depending on whether Penn Avenue is closed," he said.

City and organizer argue over outstanding debt   

There is also the question of Marshall's outstanding debt to the city from festivals past. Records of unpaid invoices show he owes close to $17,000 for police security going back to 2023, including a bill for $13,790 from last year. 

In response, Marshall provided KDKA-TV an email about last year's festival from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which operates the park. It makes assurances that the state would cover the cost of park security.

Marshall says the city's contention that he owes money taints his event.  

"Mostly definitely, because what that does, is it puts a slander on our celebration. It puts a slander on what we do every year," he said. 

The city maintains that while the state did cover security inside the park, the unpaid invoices are for police security outside the perimeter all three days of last year's festival. The city also released more than a dozen other unpaid invoices from Public Works and other departments for a range of other services, including barricades, ambulance coverage and stage rental for Juneteenth and other events sponsored by Marshall. 

But while saying the city wants the bills satisfied, Pawlak says it won't impact whether Marshall gets his permits for this year's festival.  

"That alone is not a reason to deny the permit, though it is something we're working with Mr. Marshall on," Pawlak said. 

Marshall says he'll continue to dispute his alleged debts, but expects the city to issue him permits in short order. And, he wants to assure the public the event will go on next month. 

When KDKA-TV asked Marshall if he thinks this year's Juneteenth festival will happen in Mellon Park, he replied, "Oh, most definitely it's going to happen in Mellon Park. It would be tens of thousands of people who would be very disappointed if the city or somebody else decided they wanted to try to stop the festival from being in Mellon Park."