Photos by Bob Conrad
Hundreds turned out to Rancho San Rafael Regional Park on Sunday to celebrate Juneteenth. The gathering was the second year since Juneteenth became an official state holiday.
Music, art, vendors, family activities and food trucks were at the county park from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The Northern Nevada Black Cultural Awareness Society hosted the event, which was preceded at noon by “Church in the park.”
Juneteenth observed is Wednesday, June 19, 2024. State and local government employees get the day off now, along with New Year’s Day, Veterans Day, July 4, Labor Day, Nevada Day and Christmas.
President Joe Biden declared Juneteenth a federal holiday in 2021.
Juneteenth commemorates the freeing of slaves in Texas on June 19, 1865. It took more than two-and-a-half years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation for Union troops in the Civil War to arrive in Texas to enforce the decree.
The last reading occurred in Galveston, Texas, where the Juneteenth celebration originated.
