Wed 6/19 @ noon-4PM
While many of the most recent additions to the Juneteenth calendar —a holiday that’s become widely known in the white community only in the past several years – are taking place on visitor-friendly weekdays, the African-American Cultural Garden adheres to the actual day and hosts its party on June 19th, the day when Union troops finally arrived in Texas in 1865 to inform the last slaves at they were free — nearly three years after the Emancipation Proclamation. It’s been celebrated in the Black community ever since with lavish picnics and barbecues and other festivities.
If you’ve driven down MLK Boulevard through Rockefeller Park lately, you’ve seen that the folks behind the garden have been hard at work, adding elements to its space which is significantly upgraded since last year. Come enjoy the beautiful setting they’ve created — with more to come — along with a grand march, live music, dancers, reenactments, food, vendors, kids’ activities and a competition for Cleveland school kids with three categories — rap/poetry, song/mime and instrumental/dancing — with winners getting cash prices in addition to getting to strut their stuff.
It’s free and open to the whole community.