Colorado has a relatively 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 event that takes place in Colorado Springs over the weekend following 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 is celebrated in communities across the state on and around that date.
Where to celebrate Juneteenth in Colorado
There are plenty of ways to celebrate Juneteenth in Colorado. Here are some of the major Front Range events.
Colorado Springs’ Southern Colorado Juneteenth Festival
Attend the Southern Colorado Juneteenth Festival, which is free and takes place at the Norris Penrose Indoor Event Center in Colorado Springs on June 20-21.
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.
In addition to great entertainment, people will be able to enjoy delicious food.
Red is a special color for Juneteenth, so people celebrate with red foods. There will also be barbecue, along with 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’s Juneteenth Music Festival
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 Holiday. Five Points is named for the star-like intersection where five streets converge 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 on June 20th.
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 march in the parade each year.
Fort Collins’ Juneteenth Celebration
The Juneteenth festivities in Fort Collins begin on the Juneteenth holiday, with a youth night on Friday, followed by concerts and the main celebration on Saturday.
The Fort Collins Juneteenth celebration will feature a vendor market — led by Black and Brown business owners — along with food trucks, live entertainment, face painting, educational opportunities, a TikTok dance party and more.
Longmont 2026 Juneteenth
The city of Longmont hosts its Juneteenth celebration on Saturday, June 20, in Roosevelt Park.
Longmont’s Juneteenth gathering focuses on freedom and on celebrating youth and brave new beginnings. The celebration features food, live entertainment and special musical guests.
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 created the Freedmen’s Bureau in 1865 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 after the Civil War for U.S. leaders to deliver the 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.