St. Cloud Marks Juneteenth with 28th Annual Festival at Lake George

(KNSI) – Thursday marks Juneteenth, the federal holiday commemorating when enslaved people in Texas learned of their freedom in 1865.

St. Cloud will celebrate this pivotal moment in American history with its 28th annual festival at Eastman Park along the shores of Lake George on June 19th. The event honors the day when Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, with 2,000 Union troops to proclaim that more than 250,000 enslaved people in the state were free. This historic announcement came two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863. While St. Cloud has celebrated Juneteenth for decades, it wasn’t designated as a federal holiday until 2021.

St. Cloud’s festivities, organized by Higher Works Collaborative, will run from 12:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Eastman Park. The day-long celebration will feature art displays, basketball and dominoes tournaments, food trucks, games, a grill-off competition, live music and performances, local businesses, and the Wonderland Kids Zone with interactive activities for families.

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