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Friday, April 4, 2008
Early summer event looking for vendors
I received a call from Reta at the River City Community Development Corporation, a local non-profit, who said they’re looking for vendors for their upcoming Juneteenth celebration. The CDC, as they’re known locally, puts on this event each year and anyone who wants to have a booth should call Rita at 331-2925.
“Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, is an annual holiday or holiday observance in 26 states of the United States. Celebrated on June 19, it commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas. The holiday originated in Galveston, Texas; for more than a century, the state of Texas was the primary home of Juneteenth celebrations. However, one small community in Arkansas (Wilmar) boasts that its celebration, called “June Dinner” has been consistently observed and celebrated, except for one year, since approximately 1870. Since 1980, Juneteenth has been an official state holiday in Texas. It is considered a “partial staffing holiday” meaning that state offices do not close but some employees will be using a floating holiday to take the day off.[1] Twelve other states list it as an official holiday, including Arkansas, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Alaska . In California, Governor Schwarzenegger proclaimed June 19th “Juneteenth” on June 19, 2005. [2] [3] However, some of these states, such as Connecticut, do not consider it a legal holiday and do not close government offices in observance of the occasion.[4] Its informal observance has spread to some other states, with a few celebrations even taking place in other countries.[5] [3] As of February 2008, 26 states have recognized Juneteenth as either a state holiday or state holiday observance; these include Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Delaware, Idaho, Alaska, Iowa, California, Wyoming, Missouri, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, Colorado, Arkansas, Oregon, Kentucky, Michigan, New Mexico, Virginia, Washington, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, as well as the District of Columbia.” — Source: Wikipedia.
