Mansfield celebrates Juneteenth with a parade and festival on June 15.
This event is free and open to everyone.
The commemoration is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It starts with the parade on Marion Avenue and Park Avenue West featuring marching bands, drumlines and dance groups from across Ohio, as well as local churches, businesses, organizations and political candidates.
2023: Juneteenth holiday celebrated in downtown Mansfield
The parade will be followed by the festival in Central Park in downtown Mansfield with live music and entertainment, a vendor marketplace, food trucks, community choirs, health screenings, a kids’ zone, wine tasting, line dancing and more.
The event will also raise awareness about healthcare equity, voter education and engagement, economic empowerment and education.
Look for a quilt raffle for college scholarships, free kids’ haircuts, and book signings with authors Effie James, Teana Sykes, Romeo Travis, and Obesida Cooke.
Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865 when the last enslaved people in the United States, in Texas, learned they had been freed through the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. June 19 became a federal holiday in 2021.
This article originally appeared in Mansfield News Journal: Juneteenth parade and festival held in Mansfield OH on June 15
