By JOHN BOZZO
Staff WriterDAYTONA BEACH — Famed swimming instructor Lee Pitts will highlight the Juneteenth festival 9 a.m. Saturday at Cypress Street Park.The city began celebrating Juneteenth in 2001, but no festival was held last year due to construction of a new pool in the park. Pitts participated in ceremonies when the pool opened in May.

“Lee Pitts is a renowned swim instructor and black swimmer,” said Percy Williamson, the city’s Leisure Services director.

Some children from the city’s Leisure Services programs, who don’t know how to swim, will participate in a lesson to be taught by Pitts, who established a swimming school in Fort Myers in 1990. He has published articles and appeared on radio and television shows as a water-safety expert.

A demonstration by black scuba divers is also expected.

“Encouraging swimming is important for African-American youth,” Williamson said.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19,1865, when Union Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, with word about the freeing of slaves after the Civil War and two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

The festival is free and open to the public. Vendors and corporate sponsors provided more than $40,000 to pay for the celebration, which includes a dinner tonight at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University honoring unsung heroes in the community.

“It’s great for the city to have this event and celebrate what it (Juneteenth) represents,” said City Commissioner Pam Woods, who represents the area where the pool is located. Woods donated $2,980.28 to help provide swimming lessons. The amount is her share of the Bike Week Sponsorship Fund, a pool of money used by commissioners for worthy causes.

“It’s a positive thing the city has going on that day,” she said. “It’s great that we’ll be at the new (swimming) facility.”

In addition to swimming, the festival in the park next to the pool will include activities such as a kid carnival, voter registration, health fair, vendors and a pound cake contest.

“In years past we’ve had some difficulty with some young people who come out,” Williamson said. “That’s why we’re encouraging parents to bring their children out. We will have security there to prevent unruly acts.”

Minorities, especially black children, drown at a greater rate than white people, according to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

The new pool replaces a pool built in 1942, which was closed in 2000 after a recommendation from the Health Department that it would be cheaper to build a new pool than correct problems at the old pool.