San Francisco will host a first Juneteenth parade on Saturday to kick off a month of celebrations.
Fifteen floats, including floats with black cowboys on horseback and live bands, are scheduled to parade down Market Street beginning at 11 a.m. Over 5,000 people are expected to attend.
The parade “commemorates the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans and celebrates African American culture in recognition of the contributions and advances of Black people,” according to the Juneteenth Parade website.
The parade ends at the Ferry Building and joins the Juneteenth on the Waterfront, which takes place Saturday from 9am to 2pm at the Embarcadero Ferry Terminal Plaza and Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. The event is part of an ongoing series of events called Pop-Ups on the Plaza, which aims to elevate and showcase black-owned food businesses in the Bay Area.
Both events are free and open to the public.
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day the last enslaved black Americans in Galveston, Texas learned they were free. It has been a federal holiday since 2021.
Other San Francisco Juneteenth events this month include Sunnydale’s 2023 25th Annual Family Day at Hertz Playground on Sunday, a Juneteenth launch celebration with Mayor London Breed at City Hall on June 16, and the San Francisco Black Wall Street Gala at The Hibernia June 16th, the Fillmore Juneteenth Festival at O’Farrell June 17th and Bayview Juneteenth at Gilman Park June 18th.
