Bemidji’s Project for Change Hosting Juneteenth Celebration Next Monday

The fifth annual Bemidji Juneteenth Celebration is set for next Monday.

This year’s event will take place at the Diamond Building in Diamond Point Park beginning at 3 p.m. on June 19. The group Project for Change is organizing the celebration, which is billed as a family-friendly, free public event that will include food, music, guest speakers, and more.

Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States and recognizes the date when a proclamation was given to enslaved African Americans in Texas in 1865 saying they were free.

Minnesota legislators have designated Juneteenth a state holiday. Public business cannot be conducted on June 19 in observance of the holiday.