Norristown Set To Celebrate Juneteenth Sunday

NORRISTOWN, PA — Norristown will host the borough’s inaugural Juneteenth Street Festival from 11:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday along Dekalb Street between Lafayette and Penn streets, and on Main Street from Dekalb to Green Street.

The festivities will begin at 11 a.m. on the Dekalb Street Bridge with a living history portrayal of Harriet Tubman by Millicent Sparks, followed by a drum procession to Lafayette Street for the reading of the General Order No. 3 and ceremonial ribbon cutting by council.

Vendors will sell jewelry, art, crafts, and more.

The Willow School Kids’ Zone will provide a moon bounce, face painting, zoo animals, balloons; and a mainstage will feature live local entertainment.

An exhibit of Charles Blockson, an historian and Norristown native, will be available free of charge at Centre Theater, 208 DeKalb St.

On June 19, 1865, two years after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, General Gordon Granger read General Order No. 3 to the people of Galveston, Texas proclaiming that “…all slaves are free…”.

Black Americans in Texas declared the day a holiday and named it Juneteenth.

Over a century later, on June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed a bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday.

Norristown council declaredJuneteenth as a municipal holiday in 2020.

Sponsors also include Norristown Chamber of Commerce, the Sigma Mu Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. and the Greater Norristown NAACP.

For more information, contact Tracie Henry, special events coordinator at thenry@norristown.org or 302-507-2434.