The annual Chestertown celebration of Juneteenth will take place from 10 am to 6 pm in Fountain Park on Saturday, June 17.

The one day event will provide entertainment by Saxophonist Anthony “Turk” Cannon, Delaware’s own Best Kept Soul, Magician Anthony Ware, as well as a live performance by Karen Somerville.

Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day or Freedom Day, is a holiday celebrated annually on June 19th in the United States to commemorate the end of slavery. It specifically marks the day in 1865 when Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and informed enslaved African Americans that the Civil War had ended and they were free, two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had officially outlawed slavery. It’s a day of celebration, but also a day for reflection on the history and enduring impacts of slavery and racial injustice in America.