Scotland Community In Potomac To Host Expanded Juneteenth Celebration

POTOMAC, MD — The Scotland community of Potomac is expanding its annual Scotland Juneteenth Heritage Festival in 2023, with three days of music and other activities from June 17-19.

The festival will be held at Cabin John Regional Park in Bethesda and the Cabin John Village Mall & Shopping Center in Potomac to benefit restoration and rebuilding efforts at Scotland A.M.E. Zion Church, located at 10902 Seven Locks Road.

The Scotland AME Zion Church has been a center of community for Black congregants since 1924, but its structure was nearly destroyed and left unusable by a flood in 2019. The church and its community partners in Montgomery County have launched a multiphase project to repair and restore the building.

Last November, the church was also burglarized and vandalized. Montgomery County Police said the suspects forced their way into the church on Nov. 25, vandalized property and left the scene.

The annual Scotland Juneteenth Heritage Festival will begin the evening of June 17, with a musical gala at the Bethesda Blues & Jazz Club, and conclude on June 19, with a Freedom Day Concert at the Scotland community from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

A highlight of the weekend will be the second annual Clarence “Pint” Isreal Juneteenth Classic hosted by Bethesda Big Train Baseball at Povich Field on June 19 at 7 p.m. The game honors Isreal, a Rockville resident who became a star of the Negro Leagues in the 1940s.

Juneteenth, held annually on June 19, celebrates the end of slavery in the United States and the date many slaves in Texas finally found out they were free.

With the goal of rebuilding and expanding the church, members launched the 2nd Century Project. As of February, the Scotland A.M.E. Zion Church 2nd Century Project has raised nearly $2 million. The amount includes a grant received from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, as well as pledges from Montgomery County and the State of Maryland.

Long-time sportscaster James Brown, who grew up in the D.C. area, attending Dematha Catholic High School and then Harvard University, is helping to promote the Scotland Juneteenth Heritage Festival. In a video, Brown explains that one of the areas of Maryland where formally enslaved people first owned land was the Scotland community of Montgomery County.

The community, which once included more than 500 acres, was decimated by urban renewal, "or quite frankly what some have called urban removal," Brown said.

By the time Brown first visited the Scotland community in 1987, the community had been reduced to only 11 acres, including the Scotland A.M.E. Zion Church.

"Today, that community needs our help," Brown said. "The Scotland Juneteenth Heritage Festival will help to raise the money to rebuilt and most importantly raise awareness about a place that's near and dear to my heart."

"Scotland's history is American history — yours, mine, everyone's," he added.

Visit The Annual Scotland Juneteenth Heritage Festival website to learn more about the event. Visit the Scotland AME Zion Church website to donate money to help with its restoration.