MILWAUKEE – It’s been said Milwaukee is the “City of Festivals”, especially during the summer months. Today, the city prepares to mark the 53rd annual celebration of Juneteenth.
The federal holiday commemorates when Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas at the end of the U.S. Civil War. Officially, the order only applied to enslaved people in former Confederate states, and full freedom wouldn’t come until the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in December of 1865.
Juneteenth became a federal holiday for the first time in 2021, but has been celebrated in Milwaukee as far back officially as 1972 and was officially recognized by the state of Wisconsin in 2009.
As part of the festivities, a parade will be held on the city’s north side, running along a stretch starting at 11th and Atkinson around 9:00am and heading southeast to Martin Luther King Drive and Locust Street:

Vendors, food, beverages, and other activities will dot the parade route as well.
As part of the day’s festivities, the Milwaukee County Transit System has unveiled a new Juneteenth-inspired bus wrapping:

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