Juneteenth celebration

• Juneteenth parade and community cookout
  • 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, June 18
  • Oak Park's Juneteenth celebration culminates with a parade and community cookout on Sunday, June 18.

The parade steps off at 11 a.m. from Longfellow Park near Jackson Boulevard and will march north on Ridgeland Avenue to Augusta Street. Community groups and organizations are invited to participate in the parade, which is being organized by members of the community.

Following the parade, a community cookout sponsored by the Village and the Park District of Oak Park will be held at Taylor Park, 400 Division St. The cookout will feature barbecued meat, vegan options, sides, dessert and drinks as well as a DJ and games. Ahimsa Yoga Studio will host a free yoga/meditation session at 2 p.m., and a live performance from the band Funkadesi is scheduled to start around 2:30 p.m.

Anyone interested in volunteering to help during the cookout is encouraged to email DEI@oak-park.us.

• Juneteenth flag-raising ceremony - "Still We Rise!"
  • 6 p.m., Wednesday, June 14
  • Village Hall courtyard (123 Madison St., Oak Park, IL)
  • Program:
    • 6 p.m.
      • Refreshments & performance by cellist Lindsey Sharpe
    • 6:30 p.m.
      • Opening remarks from Dr. Danielle Walker, Chief DEI Officer
    • 6:45 p.m.
      • Flag raising ceremony
      • Drumming by Victoria Boateng
      • Black National Anthem performed by Mara Love
    • 7 p.m.
      • Poem reading by Village Clerk Christina M. Waters
      • Speaker - Chris Thomas (Your Passion 1st)
    • 7:15 p.m.
      • Speaker - Rev. Adonna Reid, Pastor of First United Methodist Church Oak Park
      • Closing remarks from Village President Vicki Scaman
    • Special performance

Calling all Oak Park youth artists! The Village’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is hosting a Juneteenth Youth Arts Contest open to anyone age 18 and younger who lives or attends school in Oak Park.

Artists are invited to create an work of art that embodies Juneteenth and why it is important. All forms of art are welcome, including hip-hop/rap, spoken word, paintings, etc.

The deadline to submit a contest entry is Monday, June 12. Winners will receive a cash prize.

The Village's Office of DEI will announce winners for elementary, middle and high school age groups at the Juneteenth Cookout on June 18.

Click here to submit a contest entry

For more information, email DEI@oak-park.us.

Juneteenth has long been recognized as an important day among many Oak Parkers, and the Village Board made it official in 2020 when it voted unanimously to support a proclamation to formally observe the holiday every June 19.

Juneteenth has since been recognized as both a state and federal holiday.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when a U.S. Army general read orders in Galveston, Texas that all previously enslaved people were free.

Although the Emancipation Proclamation had formally freed them almost two and a half years earlier, and the American Civil War had largely ended with the defeat of the Confederate States in April, Texas was the most remote of the slave states, with a low presence of Union troops, so enforcement of the proclamation had been slow and inconsistent.

Through the years since, Juneteenth has offered an opportunity celebrate freedom and equal rights in the United States.

Learn more about Juneteenth in this 2003 segment from VOP-TV in which Community Relations Director Cedric Melton provides background about the holiday: