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Las Cruces organizations are planning to commemorate the end of slavery in the U.S., leading up to the Juneteenth federal holiday on June 19, 2025.

Juneteenth is a federal holiday recognized on June 19 annually. It recognizes the day enslaved black people in Texas were finally freed, over two years after the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified into law in 1863.

Local events begin June 13, 2025 throughout Las Cruces.

The New Mexico Jazz Arts Festival and Branigan Cultural is hosting a “Community Celebration” on June 15, 2025 from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., at Plaza de Las Cruces in downtown Las Cruces (100 North Main Street). At 8 p.m., the Joe Dunn Big Band will play. The event is free to the public and will include food trucks and vendors.

On June 21, 2025, the Asiah Trio will perform from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., at the courtyard at the Branigan Cultural Center (501 N. Main St.), following a Buffalo Soldier Juneteenth tribute presentation in the Branigan Courtyard at 10 a.m.

At New Mexico State University, the NMSU Black Programs and NMSU Black Student Association and NMSU’s NAACP college chapter, will host a community barbecue from noon to 2 p.m., on June 19, 2025 on the Corbett Center Student Union outdoor stage and grassy area. It will feature free barbecue, Black-owned businesses, a Juneteenth proclamation, games and music. It is open to the public.

The NAACP of Doña Ana County, in partnership NMSU’s Black Programs, will host a Juneteenth Freedom Banquet from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on June 21, 2025 at the Las Cruces Convention Center. Tickets to the banquet are $75 per person and may be purchased online.

While events are ongoing throughout the federal holiday, the City of Las Cruces, Doña Ana County and Las Cruces Public Schools administration offices will be closed on June 19, 2025.

Other performances and events throughout the week include:

June 13

  • Ricky Malachi Quartet, 6 p.m., at Rio Grande Winery

June 14

  • Joe Dunn Big Band: Buster Vs. Charlie, 7 p.m. at the New Mexico Stat University Atkinson Recital Hall

June 16

  • Wrong 7 Quartet, 5 p.m., at Little Toad Creek Brewery & Distillery

June 17

  • Juneteenth Movie Showing, 3-5 p.m., at Thomas Branigan Memorial Library
  • Rio Grande Revelers, 7:30 p.m., at Amador Live

June 18

  • How African American Folklore Saved the Cultural Memory and History of Enslaved People by Sarah Addison, 5 p.m., at Thomas Branigan Memorial Library
  • Third Line Jazz Trio, 5-8 p.m., at Rio Grande Winery

June 19

  • NMSU Black Programs Juneteenth Kickoff, Noon at NMSU Corbett Center East Lawn
  • Las Cruces Jazz Collective, featuring guest vocalist Tawanda Suessbrich-Joaquim, 7:30 p.m., at Young Park

June 20

  • Nat Reeves & Friends, featuring guest vocalist Tawanda Suessbrich-Joaquim, and Camerata Del Sol, 7 p.m., at NMSU Atkinson Hall

June 21

  • Nat Reeves & Friends featuring guest vocalist Tawanda Suessbrich-Joaquim, Robert Ojinaga Trio opening, 6 p.m., at Rio Grande Winery
  • Austin Jimmy Murphy and Claudio Tolousse, 7 p.m., at Amador Live

June 22

  • Camerate Del Sol: Ripples of Hope, 3 p.m., at NMSU Atkinson Hall
  • Footprints, 7 p.m., at Plaza de Las Cruces
  • Nat Reeves & Friends, 8 p.m., at Plaza de Las Cruces