The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Building on the success of previous year’s parade, the Somerset County Juneteenth Committee will celebrate Juneteenth with a Juneteenth Parade at 11 a.m. June 15.
The Grand Marshalls for this year’s parade are Civil Rights Activist Larry Hamm, Chairman of the People’s Organization for Progress and a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, and Bishop George Searight, Founder and Senior Pastor of the Abundant Life Family Worship Church in New Brunswick.
The Parade will kick off at Pine Grove Manor School, 130 Highland Avenue. The parade route will head up Highland Ave to Hamilton Street, ending at Naaman Williams Park.
At the conclusion of the parade, there will be a short ceremony to commemorate Juneteenth before kicking off the Juneteenth Block Party within Naaman Williams Park, which includes steel drums, line dancing, and musical and comedic performances. Food and retail vendors will be on-site and there will be face painting and other activities for the family. This celebration commemorates the richness and strength of Black culture while celebrating community.
The Juneteenth holiday is an annual commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States. Though the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves was signed January 1, 1863, enslaved African Americans in Galveston Bay, Texas learned of their freedom from the Union Army, June 19, 1865, after the Emancipation Proclamation was announced.
Juneteenth is the longest standing African American holiday observed in the United States.
The event is free and open to the public. For more information about participating in the parade, contact the Somerset County Juneteenth Committee at scdcblackcaucus@gmail.com.
