Gloucester Juneteenth Festival

Celebrate Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States! The third Gloucester Juneteenth Celebration is presented by the North Shore Juneteenth Association and CAM’s Community Engagement Committee Member, Toni Waldron, who hosted the first Gloucester Juneteenth Celebration in 2021. Learn about the Juneteenth Holiday and its connection to Cape Ann history while celebrating Black history through music, dance and food.  

“Juneteenth is an American Holiday that commemorates June 19, 1865, the date that enslaved Black people of Galveston, Texas, learned that President Abraham Lincoln had freed enslaved people in rebel states two and a half years earlier. This was the last group of enslaved Black people to learn of their freedom! Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom, a day to reflect on how far we have come and how we will continue to move forward, and a day to focus on the complexity of the Black American experience.” 

--North Shore Juneteenth Association

Schedule 

• 11am | Event Kick-Off at City Hall: Juneteenth Flag Raising and Opening Remarks followed by Reading Frederick Douglass Together with Denise Washington and Akili Jaynes from Pop Up Poetry, supported by MassHumanities and the Mass Cultural Council 
• 1pm | Yoga & Sound Healing with Sarah and Taylor 
• 1:30-3pm | Afternoon Performances by Capoeira, sponsored by Gloucester 400+, and New England Black Circus 
• 3-5pm | Musical performance by Rhythm Plus Soul sponsored by Rockport Music 

Activities 

• Free T-Shirt Silk Screening with the CAM Teen Council 
• Book Giveaway sponsored by Art for Equity with Dogtown Books, Bookstore of Gloucester, and Suzi’s Stories 
• 150 Free Scoops of a special Red Velvet Ice Cream by Holy Cow Ice Cream, sponsored by Discover Gloucester 
• Face Painting 
• Gloucester 400+ Poetry Wall 
• Paste Paper Quilt Making 
• Farm Seedling Giveaway with Backyard Growers 

Participating Organizations Include: 

• Cape Ann Museum, Action Inc, City of Gloucester, Gloucester 400+, Bookstore of Gloucester, Dogtown Books, Suzi’s Stories, Gloucester Education Foundation, Art for Equity, Discover Gloucester, Rockport Music, Backyard Growers, Outside Mind, and Holy Cow Ice Cream. 

Exact time and details are subject to change, check back soon for more details! 

This program is made possible in part by a grant from Mass Humanities, which provided funding through the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC).

This program is free and open to the public.