For the second year in a row, Brookhaven canceled an annual event that celebrates the oldest Black neighborhood in DeKalb County due to fears of spreading COVID-19.
Lynwood Park Community Day has been a staple in DeKalb for more than 40 years. The event celebrates the Lynwood Park neighborhood, a Black subdivision that dates back to the 1930s.
However, the uptick in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths throughout Georgia make the event, which was scheduled for May 1, unsafe and infeasible, according to a news release.
“Lynwood Park Community Day has been an annual day of celebration when the community gathers and remembers the historic importance of Lynwood,” Councilwoman Linley Jones, who represents the Lynwood Park community’s district, said in the release. “That is why canceling this year’s event was such a difficult decision, but the committee must prioritize the health and safety of all.”
In October, Brookhaven approved an official historic designation for Lynwood Park and its community. It became the first historic designation in the city.
Lynwood Community Center, which was once Lynwood School, anchors the historic area. The segregated school taught Black children until 1968, when they integrated into the DeKalb County School District. That first round of students was known as the “Lynnwood Trailblazers.”
This is not the only large springtime event Brookhaven has canceled due to the pandemic. In January, the city announced that the annual Cherry Blossom Festival would also not take place
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