What is Juneteenth? The holiday’s history and significance, explained.
Here’s why this once local celebration is significant to U.S. history.
- Pueblo’s Juneteenth annual celebration, dating back over 40 years, will be held at Ray Aguilera Park on June 14, 2025.
- The event will feature food trucks, entertainment, free swimming for children and more.
- Pueblo’s Juneteenth Organization is the oldest in Colorado.
At a time when about 14% of the U.S. population was enslaved, Frederick Douglass asked attendees of an 1852 Independence Day celebration “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
Nearly 14 years later, on June 19, 1866, formerly enslaved African Americans in Texas — the last Confederate state to emancipate enslaved people — were freed through a U.S. executive proclamation. The day would be celebrated as “Juneteenth” for decades to come.
Juneteenth was made a federal holiday in 2021. While it may be the newest federal holiday in the U.S., Pueblo residents have celebrated Juneteenth since at least the late 1970s. A 1978 backyard cookout in the Bessemer neighborhood evolved into the annual celebration hosted by the Juneteenth Organization of Pueblo at Ray Aguilera Park, 843 W. Northern Ave.
‘Freedom Day Celebration’ to be held on June 14 at Ray Aguilera Park
Entertainment, food trucks and even a dessert contest will be part of the Juneteenth Organization of Pueblo’s 2025 Freedom Day Celebration at Ray Aguilera Park. Festivities officially start at noon on June 14, 2025, but visitors can show up as early as 11.
“Pueblo Juneteenth is the first and the oldest organization in the state of Colorado,” Juneteenth Organization of Pueblo President Silvester Abron told the Chieftain. “A lot of people don’t know that.”
The initial Bessemer backyard cookout had about 30 attendees, many of whom had moved from Southern states where the holiday was more widely celebrated at the time. Celebrations quickly outgrew the backyard and were moved to Ray Aguilera Park, then known as Bessemer Park. Last year’s celebration attracted about 100 attendees coming in and out of the park, Abron said.
Due an increased number of confirmed community booths this year compared to the last, Abron told the Chieftain that there will “definitely” be more attendees in 2025. In addition to around 15 to 20 community booths planned for the 2025 celebration, there will be at least three food trucks.
Food trucks confirmed for the 2025 Freedom Day Celebration include those serving barbecue, burgers and Creole. As with last year’s celebration, children will be able to swim in the Ray Aguilera Park pool for free during the Juneteenth celebration.
More information about the Juneteenth Organization of Pueblo is available on Facebook at facebook.com/pueblojuneteenth/.
Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached at JBartolo@gannett.com. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.
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