Elgin's Juneteenth celebration rooted in city's history elginhistory ElginIL
Two years to the day a bill was signed into law making Juneteenth a federal holiday, Elgin held its annual Juneteenth festival Saturday celebrating Black freedom, history, culture and heritage. Gertrude McClain started the first local fest in 2001 as a fundraiser for youth scholarships at a time not many knew about, or had even heard of, Juneteenth.
Hundreds gathered annually in Lords Park for a big barbecue and celebration between 1876 and 1937, for what was called Emancipation Day, according to Elgin historian E.C."Mike" Alft's book"Elgin's Black Heritage." by signing up you agree to our terms of service McClain admits she could have called her first scholarship fundraiser in 2001 anything, but she kept thinking of the earlier freedom celebrations in the Black community.
"A lot of people think Juneteenth is just about celebrating because the slaves were free. But it's a little bit more than that. We don't discriminate at our festival. ... We open our festival up to everybody. It's a family reunion."
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