Growing up, Norm Harris never had the date for Denver’s Juneteenth celebration circled on his calendar. He never got a flyer about it or saw a poster announcing the annual event. But every June, as the day got closer, Harris could sense it.
“I always felt like there was a certain energy in the city that compelled people to start asking, when is Juneteenth?” said Harris, 38, president of the Juneteenth Music Festival. “I’m trying to recreate that spirit and energy in my community.”
Celebrated every June 19, Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when the last slaves in Texas learned they were free — nearly two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. In Denver, Juneteenth celebrations started in the 1950s, peaking in popularity during the 1980s when Harris was growing up in Five Points, where he still owns a business.
The festival’s popularity waned during the 1990s and early 2000s until a group led by Harris relaunched the event in 2012. Harris expects 20,000 people to attend this year’s 150th anniversary celebration, which includes a parade featuring Miss Juneteenth, an art walk and a music festival featuring 20 bands on five stages in the area around 26th and Welton Streets.
The celebration continues to evolve each year, but Harris said its goal remains the same: to raise awareness about the historical and cultural significance of the day and to build and strengthen relationships within the Five Points neighborhood.
“However we have it structured, there’s a certain energy and love that has to go into it to have it remain relevant,” said Harris, who has lived in Denver all his life.
New to this year’s event is a job fair and the Norman Harris Sr. Five Points Legacy Award. Named after Harris’ 97-year-old grandfather, who Harris calls “the godfather of Five Points,” the award honors an individual who best embodies the spirit of the Five Points neighborhood and plays a role in preserving its culture. The first winner of the award will be announced at the festival on Saturday.
Building on an environmental theme that was introduced last year, the festival will also have a Juneteenth Green Zone, which will focus on raising awareness about the environment.
The festival also includes the Miss Juneteenth pageant, which this year was held a week before the festival. This year’s winner in the newly added Miss Juneteenth Jr. division is P-yonnii Hudtens, 13. Seanie Opey, 17, was crowned Miss Juneteenth and will lead the parade on Saturday.
Five judges, who included a Denver Broncos cheerleader and a former Miss Colorado, looked for a contestant that not only showed academic skill but was also well-rounded and had overcome obstacles, said Stanisha Evans, 32, the pageant director and coordinator.
Unlike many other pageants, girls participating in the Miss Juneteenth pageant take classes in the weeks and months leading up to the event, Evans said. The classes for next year’s pageant will start in September and take place two to three times a month. Topics covered in the classes will include how to build confidence, how to do interviews and how to prepare for college.
“Even if you don’t win this is something you want to be a part of,” Evans said.
The Juneteenth celebration is still not widely known throughout the community, so the pageant has had some difficulty attracting participants. But numbers have increased each year, Evans said, and with the addition of a Ms. Juneteenth Jr. category for middle school girls, 13 girls participated this year.
Evans hopes the pageant will continue to grow each year and she’s committed to making sure that happens, even tutoring girls who need help becoming academically eligible to participate.
“I try to leave no girl behind,” she said.
Jessica Iannetta: 303-954-1510, jiannetta@denverpost.com
