June 17, 2025
Mount Dora to Celebrate Juneteenth with Community Festival at Cauley Lott Park
By Kyle Coppola
Mount Dora to Celebrate Juneteenth with Community Festival at Cauley Lott Park
Mount Dora will honor the Juneteenth holiday with a community celebration on Saturday, June 21, at Cauley Lott Park, located at 1717 N. Highland Street. The event, running from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., invites residents and visitors to come together in a spirit of unity, peace, and freedom.
The celebration, free and open to the public, will feature live entertainment, free food and drinks, and a variety of family-friendly activities aimed at commemorating the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas learned they were free by Union General Gordon Granger. This followed then President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 marking the end of slavery in the United States.
Highlights include:
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🎶 Live music by DJ Samp and smooth jazz vocalist Carolyn Harding
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🏀 A high-energy exhibition by the Court Kingz basketball team
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🎩 A kids magic show from 3:30 to 4:15 p.m.
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🐊 A live Gatorland wildlife show from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m.
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🕺 A special appearance by a Michael Jackson impersonator from 5:15 to 5:30 p.m.
(Event flyer for teh Juneteenth Celebration in Mount Dora.)
Louie’s Bistro Catering will provide refreshments throughout the event. Also worth noting that City of Mount Dora Government Offices will be closed in observance of Juneteenth.
Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021 when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law on June 17th, 2021.
Mount Dora’s Juneteenth event aims to blend education with celebration, creating a welcoming atmosphere where history, heritage, and hope take center stage.
For more information, visit the City of Mount Dora’s official channels or contact local organizers.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
