Denver’s annual Juneteenth celebration kicks off at 9 a.m. today with a parade through the city’s historically black neighborhood and an all-day festival in Five Points.
Free entertainment is scheduled all day and features hip-hop, spoken word and gospel music, including local favorites Mary Louise Lee Band, V-10 The Power Band and Sister Soul.
The festival also will be populated by food and retail vendors and includes a kid zone.
At 4:30 p.m., the winner of the Father of the Year award will be announced from among three finalists.
“Mothers are always highlighted, and fathers sometimes get overlooked,” said Hanifah Chiku, spokeswoman for the event. “We’ve got a lot of fathers doing really great things. They are a lot really admirable men.”
New to this year’s event is a booth on urban sustainability providing information on the effects on positive lifestyle changes, said Chiku.
The Juneteenth celebration dates to June 19, 1865, when slaves in Texas learned they were free.
Chiku said the event, which has been marked in Denver since the early 1980s, has been gaining momentum over the past three years.
“Juneteenth is the celebration of freedom, renewal and life,” she said. “There is going to be something for everyone, so we invite people to step out of their comfort zone and learn something new.”
Bianca Davis: 303-954-1698 or bsmith-davis@denverpost.com
Free to celebrate!
Denver’s Juneteenth parade starts at 9 a.m. today at Fuller Park, near the corner of East 29th Avenue and Williams Street, proceeds west on 29th to Welton Street and concludes at the center of the annual Juneteenth Festival. The festival will be spread along Welton between 24th and 27th streets. The festival, which includes free entertainment and many vendors, runs until 6 p.m.
