The fourth annual Juneteenth celebration was held at Gibson Park in Great Falls on Saturday, June 21, from noon until 3 p.m.
The free event featured live music, lawn games, and more.
Juneteenth became a federal holiday in the United States in 2021. It commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States.
The holiday's name, first used in the 1890s, is a portmanteau of the words "June" and "nineteenth", referring to June 19, 1865, the day when Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas at the end of the American Civil War.
Event organizers and sponsors include the Great Falls Public Library, along with United Way of Cascade County, the Alexander Temple, NeighborWorks Great Falls, the YWCA, Great Falls Rising, the Cascade County Democratic Party, and Great Falls Parks & Recreation.
The actual federal holiday fell on Thursday, June 19, this year.
