BASE’s highly anticipated Comedy Jam fundraiser comes back in late August
Celebrating the effective end of slavery in the United States and the subsequent ongoing efforts to gain true equality and freedom in America, Black Alliance and Social Empowerment (BASE) Southern Oregon will host its annual Juneteenth celebration at Medford’s Pear Blossom Park.
The event will include live music and performances, vendors, food, activities and more.
“It’s going to be a good one … it’s a celebration of freedom,” said Vance Beach, founder and executive director of BASE. “It’s going to be wonderful experience. It’s our biggest celebration of the year, and it attracts thousands to come out.”
BASE has been hosting the Juneteenth celebration since 2021, and the nonprofit serves Southern Oregon’s Black community through numerous programs, events, advocacy and more.
The Juneteenth event will be held from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, June 20, at Pear Blossom Park, located at 312 E. 4th St. in downtown Medford.
While the event highlights Black community, culture and history, all are invited to take part in the festivities, and the event is free to attend.
Whether it’s cultural performances or checking out the vendors — including approximately 30 Black-owned businesses — the celebration will have something for everyone.
Attendees can check in at BASE’s main tent to receive information, donate to the nonprofit and get a wristband to take part in all the activities.
“We’ll have a very active, fun kids zone with obstacle courses, kids games, jump rope, all kinds of activities for kids to do,” Beach said. “Also, we have a photo booth.”
There will be multiple speakers and performers throughout the day, including keynote speaker Imani Burris, associate program officer for Black Student Success with the Oregon Community Foundation, along with Medford Mayor Michael Zarosinski sharing a proclamation.
The performers include the Ekome African dance and drum group, Tyrone Hendrix and The Love Train Band, Rogue Suspects, FaceKing Afrobeats, The Reality Center gospel group, Danielle Kelly and others.
Juneteenth — a portmanteau of June and 19th — commemorates the true end of slavery in America when every former enslaved person gained freedom with the Union soldiers’ arrival and announcement in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865.
While Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect in 1863, it took two-plus years for it to reach Texas, the Confederacy’s westernmost state.
For more information on BASE’s Juneteenth celebration, visit baseoregon.org/event/juneteenth-2026.
Another big event coming up for BASE will be the second rendition of its popular Comedy Jam featuring stand-up comedians Mike E. Winfield, Just Nesh, Comedian C.P. and Carl Lee, as well as DJ Gemineye — the official DJ of the Oregon Ducks — providing music throughout the event.
The comedy fundraiser will be held at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29, at the Holly Theatre in Medford.
“It’s also a shared space of laughter and a place where you can enjoy and come together and connect,” Beach said. “Comedians, they do a great job at picking at the things we take so seriously, and breaking that down and connecting us through laughter. I think that’s what our community needs.”
The inaugural Comedy Jam last year at the Holly was a resounding success for BASE, with the event selling out the 1,000-plus seat venue.
For the second year, “We’re taking it a step up and we’ve got some amazing comedians,” Beach said. “We’re just so excited … it’s a spin off of old school ‘Def Comedy Jam.’”
To buy tickets for the comedy show and learn more, visit hollytheatre.ticketspice.com/2nd-base-comedy-jam.
Aside from its other programs and events running throughout the year, such as BASE’s youth program or its Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Kwanzaa celebrations, the nonprofit is in the early stages of making a documentary connecting African roots and the sense of belonging in Black communities across the country, especially Southern Oregon.
The planned documentary is titled “Homegoing/Homecoming: Origins.”
“It’s an idea right now; it’s really early. BASE is working through the Oregon Community Foundation and looking at the Creative Heights grant,” Beach said.
“It answers the question of what it means to be home, and the premise of that is looking at our journey back to Africa; most Black Americans have never gotten that experience.”
The documentary will cover many aspects of Black history, especially Black Americans’ rocky struggle with the state of Oregon and the Black Exclusion Laws that 19th-century lawmakers passed to try to prevent Blacks from settling and building lives in the state.
While BASE organizers are focused on grant writing for the documentary currently, they aim to start filming and traveling for the film by next year, likely in the summer.
To see the initial teaser trailer for “Homegoing/Homecoming: Origins,” go to youtube.com/watch?v=-XS5-A7n8Jc.
To learn more about BASE, visit baseoregon.org.
Reach reporter James Sloan at [email protected].
