Gloucester Juneteenth Festival

Celebrate Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States with Cape Ann Museum! The 4th Annual Gloucester Juneteenth Celebration, presented by the Cape Ann Museum in collaboration with community organizations across the city, began as a grassroots initiative by Gloucester resident Toni Waldron in 2021 and became part of the museum's annual events calendar in 2022. 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 

• 12:00 pm | Juneteenth Flag Raising at Gloucester City Hall with Opening Remarks by Toni Waldron and elected officials
• 12:30 pm | Reading Frederick Douglass Together, supported by MassHumanities and the Mass Cultural Council
• 1:00 – 2:00 pm | Exhibition Dance Battle with The Expressive Movement
• 2:30 – 4:00 pm | Musical performance by Rhythm Plus Soul, sponsored by Rockport Music

Activities 

• Food for sale from Butter Ur Biscuit
• Free Silk Screening with the CAM Teen Council
• Book Giveaway sponsored by Art for Equity with Dogtown Books and Bookstore of Gloucester
• 150 Free Scoops of a special Red Velvet Ice Cream by Holy Cow Ice Cream, sponsored by Discover Gloucester
• North Shore Juneteenth Association and the Lynn Museum
• Free Face Painting
• Plant Seedling Giveaway with Iron Ox Farm and the Creating Commons Collective
• Corn Hole and Herb Planting with Action Inc and The Willow Witch
• Free interactive activities with the Gloucester Education Foundation, the Cape Ann Museum, and the Gloucester Writers Center
• Kombucha Sale to benefit Diverse Books for Gloucester Schools
• AJ’s Print & Photo Studio
• Coloring Activity with Housing4All Gloucester
• Free coloring books and crayons with the Gloucester Racial Justice Team

Participating Organizations Include: 

• Cape Ann Museum
• North Shore Juneteenth Association
• Lynn Museum
• Action Inc.
• City of Gloucester
• Bookstore of Gloucester
• Dogtown Books
• Suzi’s Stories
• Gloucester Education Foundation
• Art for Equity
• Discover Gloucester
• Rockport Music
• Holy Cow Ice Cream
• Gloucester Stage Company
• Gloucester Writers Center
• Sawyer Free Library

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), and by sponsorship from Rockport Music and Action Inc.

This program is free and open to the public.