McArthur Weddle, soul of Milwaukee Juneteenth Day, retires after 42 years with Northcott

Northcott Neighborhood House Executive Director McArthur "Mac" Weddle was 12 when an undercurrent pulled him beneath the waters of the Milwaukee River at Estabrook Park.

“I went down, I came up. I went down, I came up,” Weddle recalled of the panic he felt until a troublemaker kid named Robert “Winkie” Ford jumped into the water and saved his life.

“I thought, ‘I would not have been here if God hadn’t wanted me here,’" he said.

As a man, Weddle set out on a payback mission to save other kids — sometimes misguided, all with the potential to do good — through work in organized youth recreation. That ultimately led him to Northcott.

Now 71, Weddle will retire this month after 42 years with the multipurpose community center — 19 as executive director — but not before once again spearheading its signature event – Milwaukee’s 48th annual Juneteenth Celebration on Wednesday.

The celebration commemorates the date in 1865 when African American slaves in Texas learned they were emancipated — and more generally, the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln two years earlier.

The event along North King Drive showcases African, African American and Caribbean culture, including food, music, dance and art, along with community organizations and the services they offer.

Weddle, who has been a driving force behind Milwaukee's Juneteenth event since coming to Northcott, said the celebration also helps expose young African Americans to their heritage.

"When you know who you are, what you are, where you come from, I think it makes a very significant difference in how we're going to treat one another," Weddle said. "We stand on the shoulders of many people who gave their lives so we could be where we are."

Weddle's parents came to Milwaukee from Tennessee, working hard and raising 16 children in the Halyard Park and North Division neighborhoods on Milwaukee's north side.

He remembers a vibrant community where almost everyone knew everyone else, where kids would pile into a dad's station wagon for a trip to the "Tasty Freeze."

He recalls endless, structured recreation for kids  — ice skating at Columbia playground, softball at Franklin Square playground, softball, track and field — "all kinds of activities through (Milwaukee Public Schools) recreation," he said.

"And we had playground directors who gave us guidance."

Sure, there would be a fist fight now and then.

"But it was just a fight," Weddle said, "and once the fight was over you'd go back to being friends."

Weddle attended Hopkins Street Elementary School, Fulton Junior High School and North Division High School but also considers himself an alumnus of the LaVarnway Boys & Girls Club.  

During this time his family served as a pipeline for relatives relocating from the south.

"They would move in, get a job, move out and get settled," Weddle said.

After high school he enrolled in Bacone College in Muskogee, Okla., then came home to attend the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He also returned to LaVarnway to work in youth recreation.

He completed his field placement at Northcott and earned an education degree from UWM before returning to Northcott in 1977 to work in neighborhood services.

That was the first year he volunteered for Milwaukee Juneteenth, first held in 1971.

"At that time businesses were moving out of the neighborhood, people were moving out of the community," Weddle said.

"Northcott thought a Juneteenth Day celebration in Milwaukee would be a good way to start bringing them back."

Under Weddle's guidance Milwaukee's Juneteenth celebration has become one of the largest in the nation, and Northcott Neighborhood House one of the leading organizations in Milwaukee's African American Community.

Affiliated with the United Methodist Church and established in 1961, Northcott provides recreational activities for youth, educational and employment training opportunities for adults and ex-offenders, and basic necessities to families and senior citizens.

And as he leaves the organization after four decades Weddle hopes it helps return his old neighborhood to the wonderful place he knew as a kid.

"It's going to take a while," Weddle said.

"But it's going to start with people who live right next door to each other."

IF YOU GO

The 48th annual Milwaukee Juneteenth Day Festival will take place on Wednesday, June 19 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive between Center and Burleigh Streets.

The celebration begins with a parade at 10 a.m. that begins at North 19th and West Atkinson Avenue, proceeding to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

A retirement celebration for Weddle and fundraiser for Northcott will be held from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday, at the Tripoli Shrine Center, 3000 West Wisconsin Avenue. The event includes a dinner, silent auction and entertainment by recording artists Ray, Goodman & Brown. Tickets are $75 per person, $650 for a reserved table for eight, $800 for a reserved corporate table for 10, and are available at Northcott Neighborhood Houose, 2460 North 6th Street in Milwaukee, (414) 372-3770.