First Annual Newtown Festival Reunion and Basketball Tournament Held

Submitted by AKP Press

Recently, the First Annual Newtown Festival Reunion (NFR) was held at the Newtown Park in Dillon located at 26th and Calhoun Street. The event went off without a hitch and most in attendance as well as on lookers proclaim a successful event!

The festival’s celebration of unity in community and the Juneteenth celebration was well received. Juneteenth was a period in history that the last slaves found out of their freedom after the signing and enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln. The non-alcoholic and non-smoking event that pushed positivity was most appropriate.

The NFR was promoted by Johnny “Super foot” Davis and Douglas “Humbunny” Pernell who grew up together in Newtown and saw a great need for such a positive and cultural event. They noted, “We know that we have a lot of positive, hardworking people in the Newtown area and throughout Dillon County and wanted to put forth a stronger message of positivity for the majority of people who live there.”

The first annual Newtown Festival Reunion featured three days of entertainment, great food, music, and many outstanding performances. Moreover, the event had jump houses for kids and smooth jazz and poetry for the adults.

2014 Newtown Festival Reunion Basketball Champions: Team Heat of Dillon – Standing (left to right): Quentin Carmichael, Sebastian Page, Jarvis Williams, Brandon McEachern, and Brandon Page. Sitting (left to right): Quincy Bethea and Javares Samuel. (Submitted.)

The NFR also featured an exciting two-day basketball tournament organized by brothers Rashawn and Shamaree Aaron. The tournament featured adults and kids games, three point contest and an impressive dunk contest that wowed the crowd! The eliminations started on Saturday morning with several teams and finished up on Sunday for the Championship games. With DJ Illustrious Mixir jamming clean music and announcers calling the action, it was nothing but a real basketball party!

Runner Ups: All In One – Standing (left to right): Javis Hamilton, Douglas Pernell, James Roberts Jr., Dray Williams, Shawn Bethea, Kendrick Whittington, Mickey McBride, Jamelle Hemingway, and Johnny Davis. Sitting: Rashawn Aaron. (Photo submitted.)

There were four teams that came from Dillon, Lake View, Latta and Winston-Salem, NC. One would have thought they were watching an NBA game based on the talent of these gentlemen! More importantly, the sportsmanship was phenomenal! However, in the end there could only be one championship team and that would be Team Heat bringing the heat and taking home the 2014 Newtown Festival Reunion Basketball Championship trophy with a final score of 49-42! The runner-up team was All In One Special.

There is so much that can be said about how to measure success but truly one way is to devour negative expectations. The NFR accomplished this in one exciting weekend and looking for bigger and better things to come. As a result of a few like-minded people working together, positive change has begun in Newtown.