NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A Hutchinson non-profit is helping facilitate a Juneteenth Celebration here in the Salt City this weekend.
"H.E.E.L.O. Inc is the Hutchinson Empowerment Engagement Leadership Organization," said founder Shontina Tipton. "I'm a native of Hutchinson and I'd been gone for some time. I came back to start a nonprofit. It's a nonprofit to work with the youth in the community. The nonprofit was already in conception about a year ago. It just kind of kicked of during Juneteenth celebration weekend. With H.E.E.L.O., we're going to be working with the youth. We've got several programs we're going to be working with. We've got a Stars and Stripes STEM program that we will be working with 4th to 12th graders, we have a Woodson principal's care to curriculum program, working K-12. We also started the Edward L. Tipton minority scholarship at Hutchinson Community College in honor of my father, Edward Tipton."
The events started Thursday with a talent show put on by the NAACP Youth, and there was a blood drive Friday at Stringer Fine Arts Center at HutchCC.
There is also a dominoes and spades tournament at Rice Park Community Center Friday night and a pancake feed Saturday morning at the DCI parking lot, along with a Juneteenth Feature Movie, You People that will be shown at the Fox Theatre starting at 6 p.m. Saturday. The movie's creative leader, Laron Chapman will be there.
"He was born and raised here in Hutchinson, as well," Tipton said. "He left to pursue the movie industry and got an education from Oklahoma State University and he went on to make several movies."
According to the IMDb summary of the film, written by Chapman, "You People" is a satirical comedy about modern stereotypes, chronicling the life of an intelligent, white-washed, African-American college student, adopted by a liberal Caucasian family, who has a crisis of identity while growing up in bible belt, white suburbia with his urban hip-hop culture obsessed, white best friend.
The NAACP Youth will also be set up at the Farmer's Market on Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon. Thursday's talent show winner will also be performing their winning act. You can drop by their table and learn more about them and how you can get involved, or register to vote.