USA TOWN CENTER 1220 FOX RUN AVE. IN THIS ISSUE
Auburn Chamber’s Best of Small Business winners
BUSINESS NEWS A2 | POLITICS A6 | PUBLIC NOTICES A8 | OBITUARIES A12 SPORTS B1 | EDUCATION B9 | FOOD & ENTERTAINMENT B11
— See page A3
2022 — APA DIVISION D GENERAL EXCELLENCE DESIGNATION — 2023 COVERING LEE COUNTY, ALABAMA Vol. 16, No. 37 Opelika, Alabama Thursday, June 20, 2024 Your hometown newspaper created 'for local people, by local people.'
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Opelika’s Businesswoman of the Year Sarah Gill receives honor from Chamber of Commerce PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY OPELIKA CHAMBER
Sarah Barnett Gill, left, owner of Mama Mocha’s Coffee Roastery, received the Opelika Chamber’s 2024 Businesswoman of the Year award at its 83rd annual meeting held June 7. Presenting the award is Opelika Chamber President & CEO Ali Rauch, right.
For more photos from the Opelika Chamber’s Annual Meeting, see page A3
Juneteenth celebration continues this weekend PHOTO BY ROBERT NOLES | THE OBSERVER
Auburn’s Juneteenth celebrations included a parade from Boykin Community Center to Drake Middle School on Friday, June 14, and a gathering/ceremony at Keisel Park on Saturday, June 15.
See more photos on page A6
Juneteenth on the Square set for Friday, June 21, in historic downtown Opelika BY ANITA STIEFEL ANITAS@OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM
OPELIKA — Opelika’s Juneteenth on the Square celebration will be held Friday, June 21, at 5:30 p.m. at Courthouse Square. The event will include food, activities and entertainment for the community to enjoy. Officially known as Juneteenth National Independence Day, Juneteenth was signed into law as a federal holiday in the U.S. by Presi-
dent Joe Biden in 2021. The holiday is celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the end of slavery. The holiday’s name combines “June” and “nineteenth, as it was on June 19, 1865, when the Emancipation Proclamation started being enforced in the last slavery holdout, Texas. Opelika Juneteenth Committee members work to ensure the holiday is treated with the celebration it deserves.
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Free outdoor concerts every Tuesday night, 7 p.m. at Opelika Municipal Park.
June 25 — Muse