Juneteenth goes communitywide with Freedom Day events
Juneteenth celebrations will take place June 16-17 in Oak Ridge and will include the first communitywide Freedom Day.
Activities will take place in Oak Ridge at the Scarboro Community Center, 148 Carver Ave., and the field where the historical Scarboro School was located below Oak Valley Baptist Church on Hampton Road.
Activities on Saturday, June 16, will take place from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Scarboro Community Center. Activities planned, according to information from organizers, include a kickball tournament, a spade tournament, bingo, an inflatable bounce house, free cotton candy and snow cones, and a disc jockey providing more entertainment.
On Saturday, June 17, the Juneteenth Festival will get underway at noon on Hampton Road and continue until 8 p.m. with live gospel and R&B music, vendors, carnival games and more.
Juneteenth marks the date − June 19, 1865 − on which the news of the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves got to Texas, and the celebration has since spread throughout the country.
It was made a national holiday in 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law.
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Juneteenth Freedom Day events Oak Ridge Tennessee
