Denver’s Five Points neighborhood will be transformed into a mecca of local businesses and live entertainment in celebration of this year’s Juneteenth, welcoming the community to attend a free celebratory event on June 15 and June 16. The packed weekend will feature one of the Mile High City’s longest running parades that dates to the 1950s, headlining rapper Bow Wow and more than 200 booths of unique vendors and artists.
Juneteenth, a combination of the words “June” and “nineteenth,” recognizes the historic day of June 19, 1865, when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger issued a proclamation that the last enslaved people in Texas were free. It wasn’t until 2021 that the annual celebration was recognized as a federal holiday.
But Denver, like many other cities across the U.S., has been hosting Juneteenth celebrations for decades.
This year, the celebration will be back with many of its iconic staples, along with a rich array of fresh additions that both celebrate the legacy of African American history and continue forwarding social dialogue. Below are just some of the many highlights happening during the Juneteenth weekend.
Juneteenth Music Festival
Norman Harris, the executive director for the Juneteenth Music Festival, describes the annual event as a “cultural treasure chest” that comes together in unique ways every year.
“I used to watch my mother cook gumbo, and she’d start with the base sauce called the roux,” said Harris. “The roux of Juneteenth is the love and commitment of our committee who work tirelessly to keep improving the event and providing a cultural anchor for so many people.”
This year’s music festival includes an activated space that invites podcasters to broadcast live onsite, giving the thousands of people who move through the festival a platform to voice their excitement for the annual celebration of freedom. In addition to new partners and sponsorship, the festival will welcome headliner Bow Wow alongside a large section of live musicians.
“The size and scale of the Juneteenth celebration is a reflection of the legacy of African Americans who were moving from rural to urban, from south to north during the Great Migration period,” Harris said. “And what occurred in Denver was, there was a concentration of African Americans living in the Five Points neighborhood – it was actually the only neighborhood (where) people could really live due to redlining.”
As the Denver community comes to Welton Street to celebrate the festivities, Harris said it’s important to be intentional.
“It’s the one real holiday here in the United States centered around African American culture so supporting our local business, artists and vendors is a great way to pay homage to some of the sacrifices that African Americans have made to make this country – an amazing place,” he said.
Food, vendors and a family feel
For Gary Moore, owner of Big G’s BBQ, and many community members in the Denver area, Juneteenth has always been centered around family. The food vendor has been at the festival for the past nine years, seeing first-hand how the annual celebration grew from a handful of booths made out of two-by-fours to the massive block party it is today.
“I’m originally from Texas and growing up, we would always celebrate Juneteenth in my uncle’s backyard,” said Moore. “It was a tradition from my mother, and it got me hooked. I enjoyed just spending time with the people I grew up with, a lot of whom I only see once or twice a year.”
With sweet watermelons, home brews and delicious food, Moore said the annual tradition is still woven into his life, with his own family now participating in serving their mouthwatering barbecue at the festival every year.
The home of the Mile High Monster sandwich will be offering an array of food out of their red food truck including chicken, pulled pork and brisket along with baked beans, corn and coleslaw. Sweet potato pies and lemon cakes will be in the mix along with their crowd-pleasing specialty sandwiches. Moore said he wasn’t revealing this year’s secret, but Big G’s BBQ would be bringing out something fresh for the festival.
“We’re determined to keep these traditions going and to keep enjoying ourselves,” said Moore.
In addition to ample food options, the festival will welcome a selection of vendors, many of whom represent nonprofits and organizations doing essential community work in Denver. This year will be the first time the Denver Public Schools Climate & Safety Office will have a booth. Serving more than 90,000 students and 14,000 staff members in the metro area, DPS Climate & Safety coordinates with investigators, armed patrol officers, dispatchers, emergency management professionals, campus safety officers and a prevention-focused support team.
“One thing we want to improve is our engagement with the community as there is a lot that happens in the realm of school safety and we want that to be shared knowledge,” said DPS Climate & Safety Chief Greg Cazzell. “It’s an opportunity to meet our community in person and empower parents with information on the tools they have at their disposal.”
Campus safety officers and school staff will be at the Juneteenth festival booth talking with attendees about DPS Climate & Safety’s work such as standard response protocols, programming and supportive resources. A major focus of the office is addressing student needs through preventative measures such as youth violence prevention programming and wraparound support systems that alleviate the need for uniform officer intervention.
“We work to identify student needs and a support plan that will minimize any type of criminal justice impact,” said Cazzell. “We focus on proactively eliminating juveniles transitioning into the criminal justice system as our students of color are the ones who are predominantly impacted.”
Dream Big Awards
The Juneteenth Music Festival has worked to highlight community champions who set high standards for achievement with the annual Dream Big Awards, which started in 2015. This year’s awards will include a lifetime achievement award to Chauncey Ray Billups, who was recently named to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Another awardee is Bianka Emerson, president of Colorado Black Women for Political Action . Formed in 1977, the political organization was founded by former State Sen. Gloria Tanner to enhance African American political participation. Today the organization works to educate the community on current issues, along with supporting candidates and ballot measures that benefit the Black community.
“One of the things we really focus on is voter education,” said Emerson, a Denver native with nearly 20 years of experience in electoral politics, campaign strategy and program management. “It’s not enough just to vote but understanding what your vote means, who the political players are and how the government works.”
For Emerson, the Dream Big Award is a full-circle moment as dreaming big has been a guiding force in her life. One of only a few Black students in her graduating high school class in the Cherry Creek School District, Emerson went on to earn degrees from Southern University and A&M College in Louisiana, as well as a law degree in Arizona, and has a background working in immigration law. The daughter of two pastors, she was introduced to advocacy and acts of service at a young age, remembering her mother’s impactful sermons that encouraged women to always dream big and strive to fulfill their passions, regardless of what others might say.
“There’s value in making sure that everyone’s voice is heard,” said Emerson. “We make sure the needs and issues that uniquely impact the Black community are heard and addressed.”
Absolute Equality’s Juneteenth Mural Project
Denver will be participating for the first time this year in Absolute Equality’s Juneteenth Mural Project, a national initiative that encourages social dialogue through coordinating public art installations. Organized by community partner EDENS, local artist Detour (Thomas Evans) will unveil a new mural at Noble Riot in Denver’s River North Art District during the Juneteenth festival weekend.
The mural project got its start in 2021 in the birthplace of Juneteenth – Galveston, Texas – with a 5,000-square-foot mural titled “Absolute Equality” overlooking the site where Granger issued his historic general order. Since then, 13 murals have popped up in 13 different cities across the United States. This year’s Juneteenth welcomes four new murals.
“Public art helps spark conversations and fosters new connections within these communities,” said Absolute Equality artist Reginald Adams. “Projects like this amplify marginalized voices, challenge perceptions and offer opportunities for collective reflection on our shared history.”
The locations of the murals are intended to be long-term storytelling spaces that will forward other community engagements. Adams said the growing number of murals serve as gathering points and outdoor classrooms, permanent reminders of a collective commitment to equality.
Absolute Equality works with local community organizers through supporting research prior to starting the mural projects, assisting in finding a location and volunteering their time working with the artists. While artists are given an overarching theme, they use their own interpretation to create something that would resonate with the surrounding community through their own local lens.
“What we hope people take away from the mural project really is a sense of the spirit of resilience that we as humans have to overcome being enslaved to actualizing freedom,” said Adams. “I hope the imagery within each mural serves as a sense of inspiration of what’s possible when we exercise our freedoms.”