The 47th Consecutive Juneteenth Festival will be this Saturday, June 18, 2022. There are tons of activities happening at MLK Park as a part of the festivities. After being held virtually for the past two years due to the pandemic, it's exciting to have a live, in-person Juneteenth celebration again. The parade will kick off at 11 am and there is a massive line-up, so be sure to bring your chair out or find a place to stand to check it out.

The Juneteenth Festival of Buffalo was started in 1976 by B.U.I.L.D., a community-based organization, as a culturally relevant alternative to the country's Bicentennial Celebration. The group blocked off part of Jefferson Avenue -- the "Main Street" of Buffalo's Black community -- for a weekend celebration.

By Yasmin Young

The 47th Consecutive Juneteenth Festival will take place on Saturday, June 18, 11:00 am to 8:00 pm at Martin Luther King Park, Buffalo, NY 14211.

There will be food, music, performances, community resources, shopping and of course information about our history and heritage. The festival will feature three performance stages - the main stage, the edu-tainment stage and the arts and cultural stage. There will be a health pavilion and kids' area.

By Yasmin Young

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. From its Galveston, Texas origin in 1865, the observance of June 19th as the African American Emancipation Day has spread across the United States and beyond.

You can find more information about the Juneteenth Festival, as well as merchandise at buffalojuneteenth.com.