Fresno celebrates Juneteenth with a weekend festival of events, including a downtown parade

Fresnans celebrated the U.S.’s newest federal holiday with a weekend’s worth of events, including a downtown parade, music and dance performances and inspirational speakers and workshops.

Some 10,000 people were expected to join in on the Fresno Juneteenth Festival, which continues at the Fresno Convention Center on Sunday and at City Hall on Monday where there will be an official flag raising at noon. Also Monday, the Freedom Run/Walk is planned at Woodward Park (registration still open).

The Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Commerce will hold a final celebration staring at 3 p.m. Monday at the Cultural Arts Park on Fulton Street in downtown.

Juneteenth, also know as Jubilee Day, was started in Texas to commemorate the date (June 19, 1865) that Union soldiers brought news of the Emancipation Proclamation to Galveston — a full two years after the proclamation had been signed by President Abraham Lincoln.

It took nearly another six months before the 13th Amendment was ratified ending slavery.

The day has long been celebrated in African-American communities across the county and was made an official state holiday in Texas since 1980. It was officially declared a federal holiday by President Joe Biden last year.

The Fresno Juneteenth Collaborative Committee has been hosting an event annually for more than 40 years.

A statewide Juneteenth celebration happened at Col. Allensworth State Historic Park, south of Fresno. Allensworth was the first African American town established in California.