Colorado has a new Juneteenth holiday, and it’s a wonderful time for everyone to celebrate freedom.
“Juneteenth is our freedom now and forever,” said Jen Smith, co-founder of the Southern Colorado Juneteenth Festival, a free, three-day event that takes place in Colorado Springs over the weekend before Juneteenth.
Smith, who helped create the event with her husband DeAndré Smith, said everyone is welcome.
“Juneteenth is about everybody’s freedom,” she said.
The name Juneteenth combines two words: June and nineteenth, and the holiday commemorates June 19, 1865. That was the day when the last enslaved people in the U.S. finally became free.
The Emancipation Proclamation was supposed to end slavery throughout the U.S. in 1863, but it took more than two years for Union soldiers to free people in Texas, which had remained a Confederate Territory after the Emancipation Proclamation. Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas on June 19, 1865, and read a decree declaring freedom for more than 250,000 formerly enslaved people in Texas.
Long celebrated in the Black community with parties, barbecues, concerts, parades and more, Juneteenth is now a celebration for people from all racial and ethnic backgrounds. And more and more states across the U.S. now celebrate Juneteenth as an official holiday.
Juneteenth became a formal holiday in Colorado in 2022, and it will be celebrated on June 19, of course.
There are plenty of ways to celebrate Juneteenth in Colorado.
Where to celebrate Juneteenth in Colorado
Colorado Springs
Attend the Southern Colorado Juneteenth Festival, which is expected to bring more than 26,000 people to the America the Beautiful Park in Colorado Springs on June 14, 15 and 16.
The event celebrates cultural diversity and unity through food, music and fun.
“It’s a platform for performances, poetry, dancing, stepping, flipping, break dancing and more. We’ve done rap and R&B,” said Smith, who with her husband owns OneBodyEnt and produces the event.
This year’s headliner is H-Town, and Tony Exum, Jr., a jazz and R & B saxophonist from Colorado Springs who performs around the world, will also take the stage.
In addition to great entertainment, people will be able to enjoy delicious food.
Red is a special color for Juneteenth, so a woman from Texas — home of the first Juneteenth celebrations — is making red cake for the Colorado Springs event.
There will be barbecue, of course, but also foods from around the world, including Indonesian, Jamaican and more.
“From hearing about emancipation to enjoying good music, speeches from kids and laughter, we’ll have a lot of fun,” Smith said.
Denver
Denver residents have a rich tradition of celebrating Juneteenth. Barbecues, parades and concerts have commemorated Juneteenth since at least the early 1950s in Denver’s remarkable Five Points neighborhood. Dubbed the Harlem of the West, Five Points became a mecca for legendary jazz performers including Duke Ellington and Billie Holliday. Five Points is named for the star-like spot where five streets come together near downtown Denver. Now Five Points is the place where Denverites gather to celebrate unity and freedom for all people during Juneteenth.
The Juneteenth Music Festival takes place this year over the weekend before the official Juneteenth holiday on June 19. The festival features free shows including headliner, Bow Wow.
Denver’s Juneteenth celebration, long known as one of the largest in the U.S., also features Denver’s longest running parade. As many as 5,000 people are expected to march in the parade.
Fort Collins
The Juneteenth festivities in Fort Collins take place the weekend before this year’s Juneteenth holiday, with a youth night on Friday, including outdoor film screenings, followed by concerts and the main celebration on Saturday and gospel services on Sunday.
The Fort Collins Juneteenth celebration will feature a vendor market — led by Black and Brown business owners — along with food trucks, live entertainment, face pointing, educational opportunities, a TikTok dance party and more.
Longmont
The city of Longmont hosts its Juneteenth celebration on Saturday, June 22 in Roosevelt Park.
Longmont’s Juneteenth gathering focuses on freedom, a celebration of youth and brave new beginnings. The celebration features food, live entertainment and special musical guests, including Chrisette Michelle.
Learn more about the history of Juneteenth in Colorado and across the U.S.
Visit Denver’s Blair Caldwell African American Research Library located in Denver’s historic Five Points neighborhood. The library is home to a remarkable collection that documents the history of Black people in Denver and Colorado.
Learn about the history of Juneteenth in the U.S. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture includes a wonderful collection of original documents and research resources related to Juneteenth. Of course, visitors can see this remarkable museum in person in Washington, D.C. But anyone can conduct research online.
Learn why the color red and red foods are special symbols of resilience and joy for Juneteenth.
What happened on the first Juneteenth on June 19, 1865?
Search records of the Freedmen’s Bureau. During the initial hopeful period following the Civil War, Congress in 1865 created the Freedmen’s Bureau to support formerly enslaved people. Unfortunately, following a period of great hope for newly freed Black people in the 1860s, violence and discrimination escalated during Reconstruction, especially in southern states where discriminatory laws took hold during the Jim Crow era. It took nearly 100 years following the Civil War for U.S. leaders to provide promised civil rights to Black Americans. Some pledges — including the famous broken promise, “40 acres and a mule,” which was supposed to help former enslaved people start new lives — never came to pass.