Two months after launching The Finishing Well, owner Tracie Allen ’88 was “humbled and proud” to introduce her new fitness instruction business at last year’s Juneteenth Community Celebration in Bloomington.
This year, on the heels of celebrating her business’s one-year anniversary, Allen is excited to return to Miller Park, alongside many other local vendors, for the community’s 2023 Juneteenth Celebration, Saturday, June 17, from noon-6:30 p.m.
“Our community is so rich, with a lot of talent and resources,” Allen said. “It’s amazing to be a part of that, and I know that there are many minority fitness professionals in town who can benefit from the exposure.”
Sponsored jointly by the Bloomington-Normal Black History Project and the City of Bloomington, the Juneteenth Celebration features entertainment, vendors, food trucks, kids activities, and community resources.
The annual event commemorates Juneteenth—June 19, 1865—the date that enslaved people in Texas learned of their freedom when Union Gen. Gordon Granger publicly read the Emancipation Proclamation order in Galveston, nearly three years after the proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln.
“It’s important that we have the Juneteenth Celebration because it gives individuals who may not have had that exposure, to learn a little bit more about Juneteenth,” Allen said. “Even for me, when I was in school, we weren’t taught Black history as a part of our curriculum. We all need to understand how historical events have caused us to be where we are today, so we’ll learn from mistakes and know how to move forward in unity from there.”
Allen said Bloomington’s Juneteenth Celebration showcases “a wealth of culture and experiences right here that people can be a part of and learn from.”
Greg Wilson, the City of Bloomington’s community relations manager, is a lead organizer for the annual event that started in 1993. He said 1,200 people attended last year’s celebration featuring 34 vendors. This year, he is expecting around 45 vendors at the Juneteenth Celebration, which helps “fuel local entrepreneurship in our community,” according to Wilson.
“The event showcases businesses vendors of all backgrounds,” Wilson said. “This is one of the most exciting aspects about the event. It is truly an all-inclusive celebration aimed at celebrating Juneteenth and freedom.”
Illinois State University alum Michelle Lee ’83 attended last year’s Juneteenth Celebration and was drawn in by Allen’s onstage demonstration of Zumba, a fitness program that involves cardio through a blend of Latin and international rhythms.
“She danced flawlessly,” said Lee. She signed up for Allen’s fall session and returned in the spring.
Lee, who previously participated in Zumba at a large gym that later closed, had been in a “limbo state” before seeing Allen’s demonstration at the 2022 Juneteenth Celebration. Lee said she was grateful to subsequently connect with Allen and become one of her “Zumba Gold Queens.”
“I’m hooked,” Lee said. “Tracie makes the class fun!”
Fitness has always been an important part of Allen’s life and, following careers at Diamond-Star Motors and State Farm, she became a certified personal trainer in 2017. Throughout the past six years, she has worked with clients in her home and at local parks. Her goal is to foster fun and promote mental wellness, through physical exercise.
“I really wanted to reach a demographic of individuals who were kind of shy from a ‘big box gym’ environment,” Allen said. “I wanted to create a more personal, one-on-one experience, without judgment, so that they could be comfortable being themselves while they are on this personal journey.”
In April 2022, Allen expanded her community fitness reach by opening The Finishing Well, a business that offers Zumba classes and personal training. The name acknowledges that everyone starts their fitness journey from a different place. What’s important, according to Allen, is that “we all finish well.”
Allen credits her experience at Illinois State for instilling a personal drive to continue learning and embarking on new endeavors. She is also thankful for support from her husband, Vincent Allen ’91—who she met at Illinois State—and their three daughters, two of whom are Redbird alums.
“It’s just amazing to me because I did not know starting my own business was possible,” Allen said. “Being able to start something birthed from my heart; to reach people the way I’ve always wanted to—it’s more than anything that I could ever have imagined that I would do.”
This summer, Allen is leading Aqua Zumba classes for Normal Parks and Recreation. In the future, Allen plans to pilot a Zumba Gold class for seniors at the Western Avenue Community Center. And she hopes to find affordable spaces where she can offer more classes to residents on Bloomington’s underserved west side—a fitness desert. All of the local, large gyms are in east Bloomington—including the recently relocated YMCA—or north Normal.
“My desire is to be able to see other spaces become available to teach in areas where environmental wellness is imperative,” Allen said. “It’s important so people can have the same opportunity, from qualified professionals, in those areas. We’re talking about the whole wellness continuum, because your social wellness and environmental wellness directly effects your physical wellness.”
Impacting the community, through Zumba and personal training, “means the world” to Allen, and she is eager to introduce her business to more potential clients at this year’s Juneteenth Celebration.
“It’s a day of inspiration,” Allen said. “It’s an inspiration for everyone to be able to see what our community has to offer. It’s a day full of education and joy, and it’s an opportunity to see that there’s something for everyone.”
