City of Bloomington to host Juneteenth Celebration Saturday

By Mia Hilkowitz mhilkowi@iu.edu

The city of Bloomington will host a celebration for Juneteenth — which commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. — 2 p.m. Saturday at Switchyard Park. Juneteenth — also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Liberation Day or Emancipation Day — marks the official day when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned of emancipation.

According to a city of Bloomington press release, the celebration will feature games, music and free food from BBQ Train. All activities for the Juneteenth celebration will be hosted at the pavilion and

Switchyard Plaza Spray Pad, according to the release. Event organizers are encouraging attendees to bring their own food, nonalcoholic beverages, chairs and picnic blankets to the event.

Attendees can also purchase products from several Black-owned businesses selling on-site. Vendors include Beads by Z, Diegodoodles, LEADBABY Flix and Tandem Community Birth Center and Postpartum House, Inc., according to the city of Bloomington.

According to the Associated Press, Juneteenth celebrations first began in Galveston, Texas, where news that the Civil War

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