Kid-friendly activities will include face-painting, an obstacle course bounce house, crown making and an appearance from Joseph the Juggler.
FOND DU LAC – Fond du Lac will celebrate Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the U.S., on June 14.
Starting at 11 a.m., Ebony Vision’s annual Juneteenth Celebration is back for its 17th year with live entertainment, food, family-friendly activities, community vendors and raffles that support the organization at Buttermilk Creek Park, 700 S. Park Ave.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison marching band will return this year as the entertainment headliner at 2 p.m., and Cozy Corner will run the food booth with rib tips, hot dogs, burgers, red beans and rice, collard greens, gumbo and more, including vegan options.
Kid-friendly activities will include face-painting, an obstacle course bounce house, crown making and an appearance from Joseph the Juggler. The Fond du Lac Police Department will also host activities.
“Juneteenth is also a time to strengthen our bonds of unity and offer support to one another as we all share in the blessings of freedom,” the organization said.
Every year, Ebony Vision shares the free festival — historically celebrated among family with poetry, song, dance, children’s activities and speakers — with the community as a whole, using the holiday to “strengthen our bonds of unity and offer support to one another as we all share in the blessings of freedom,” according to the organization.
“It’s important that we share and grow with the community as well as have a voice in the community, and we believe celebrating Juneteenth in the Fond du Lac community helps educate all people about African American culture,” Ebony Vision said.
The holiday of Juneteenth falls on June 19, commemorating the day in 1865 when Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, still under Confederate control, and announced the more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in the state were free by executive decree.
Wisconsin became the 34th state to recognize and celebrate Juneteenth in 2009, and Juneteenth became a national holiday in the United States in 2021.
Ebony Vision is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. Its office at 14 Western Ave., Suite 203, holds the Lending Library and is open 9 a.m. to noon Mondays and Wednesdays. For more information or to donate to the organization, visit ebonyvisionfdl.org.
Daphne Lemke is the Streetwise reporter for the Fond du Lac Reporter. Contact her at dlemke@gannett.com.
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