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Juneteenth

When the Allentown Arts Festival becomes a drag…

For the 33rd year running, Buffalo hosts it annual Juneteenth Festival this weekend in Martin Luther King, Jr. Park. Although not an officially sanctioned holiday, this festival is held worldwide to commemorate the day, June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger brought the Union army into Galveston, Texas to notify the town that the Civil War had ended and that all the slaves, by order of Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation, had been freed.

Countries such as China, Japan, Israel, France, and Germany, to name only a few, take part in Juneteenth. Buffalo throws the third-largest Juneteenth celebration here in the States. The local festival was started here by B.U.I.L.D, a community-based organization, on Jefferson Street, in the heart of Buffalo’s African-American community, as a counterpart to the national bicentennial celebration in 1976. After outgrowing its original home, the festival was moved to Martin Luther King Jr. Park, on the corner of Best Street and Fillmore Avenue, to better accommodate the growing number of vendors, attractions, and, most importantly, the crowd.

The mission of the Juneteenth Festival of Buffalo (as stated on their Web site, juneteenthofbuffalo.com), is to “actively preserve and promote the broad spectrum of African American heritage through educational and cultural activities that will benefit the community as a whole.” To that end, Juneteenth offers food, music, and local vendors, all in the context of celebrating African-American heritage. There is a food court, an arts and culture tent, historical exhibits, a huge parade and a five-kilometer run. There are historical tours of Buffalo’s Underground Railroad stations, including the Michigan Street Baptist Church. There’s fun for the kids, too, in the children’s tent.

So here’s a word for those who lament the crush and relentless hard sell of the Allentown Arts Festival: Juneteenth.

emmalie vance

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