AROUND TOWN
From graduation to back-to-school seems like such a short time, but many fun events came in between. In traditional form, the Class of 2025 graduated at the Historic Tomato Bowl. Jacksonville hosted the forty-first annual Tomato Fest, bringing many visitors to town. The city remembered Juneteenth and the actual freedom that enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation brought to the enslaved people of Texas. Also celebrated during Juneteenth was the grand re-opening of Lincoln Park – with its new amenities that including a splash pad, all-ability playground apparatuses and exercise equipment. July Fourth was celebrated in Rusk, the Cherokee County seat, with the annual parade, Gauge Lankford Memorial Fireman’ s Challenge and a new addition – children’ s tricycle races. Before heading back to school, seniors were allowed to paint their parking spaces. Parents of younger children walked them to class for the first day of the new school year.
22 Jacksonville Progress | Fall 2025