{"id":24919,"date":"2021-06-04T13:45:24","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T20:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=30000020588"},"modified":"2021-06-18T19:17:10","modified_gmt":"2021-06-19T02:17:10","slug":"celebration-to-mark-juneteenth-with-performances-vendors-and-other-festivities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/news\/celebration-to-mark-juneteenth-with-performances-vendors-and-other-festivities","title":{"rendered":"How to celebrate Juneteenth in Long Beach this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Long Beach will mark Juneteenth\u2014now designated as a federal holiday\u2014with performances, vendors and more at a large in-person event Downtown, and other events throughout the city and beyond.<\/p>\n

The Juneteenth celebration Downtown is now “sold out”\u2014it’s free, but participants were asked to register\u2014but those interested in attending can still do so virtually. For details, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The celebration from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Pine Avenue between Fourth and Fifth streets will include traditional African drumming, poetry, modern\u00a0dance, vendors, emceeing by Aundrae Russell <\/a>of KJLH Radio.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to give (attendees) something that makes them walk away feeling good about Juneteenth and excited to come back and celebrate Juneteenth with us next year,\u201d said organizer Carl Kemp.<\/p>\n

Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom, commemorating June 19, 1865, the day that Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, announcing that the Civil War had ended and those who were enslaved were now free, two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln\u2019s Emancipation Proclamation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is an opportunity for America, and all Americans to pause, acknowledge what makes America great and made America great, was 400 years of free labor and unimaginable terror inflicted upon Black people, and still from that experience was extracted a level of joy, culture, innovation that defines America to this day, whether it be through rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, or jazz, or peanut butter, or any number of other huge contributions that Black people have made to this country despite always being treated in some unfortunate ways,\u201d said Kemp.<\/p>\n

Some of the event\u2019s supporters include the Downtown Long Beach Alliance, Antioch Church, the Long Beach Post, the Port of Long Beach, Boeing, and the YMCA which will provide kid-friendly activities, and its newest sponsor, Amazon.<\/p>\n

The Long Beach City Council recently recognized<\/a> Juneteenth as an official \u201cday of celebration,\u201d and President Joe Biden signed a law Thursday<\/a> making June 19 one of 12 federal holidays.<\/p>\n

Other events taking in place in and around Long Beach:<\/strong><\/p>\n