San Francisco Juneteenth celebrations to begin Saturday with parade
SAN FRANCISCO – The inaugural Juneteenth Parade in San Francisco on Saturday will kick off a month of celebration.
Fifteen floats, including floats with Black cowboys on horseback and live bands, are slated to move along Market Street beginning at 11 a.m. Over 5,000 people are expected to be in attendance.
The parade "commemorates the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans and celebrates African American culture in recognition of Black contributions and progress," the Juneteenth Parade website reads.
The parade will end at the Ferry Building to join Juneteenth on the Waterfront, which is taking place Saturday at the Embarcadero Ferry Terminal Plaza and the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event is part of an ongoing series of events called Pop-Ups on the Plaza that aims to uplift and showcase Black-owned Bay Area food businesses.
Both events are free and open to the public.
Juneteenth is a reference to the date when Union soldiers declared that the Civil War was over and slaves were to be freed. It was recognized as a federal holiday beginning in 2021.
Other San Francisco Juneteenth events this month include the Sunnydale 2023 25th Annual Family Day at Hertz Playground on Sunday, a Juneteenth kick-off celebration featuring Mayor London Breed at City Hall on June 16, the San Francisco Black Wall Street Gala at The Hibernia also on June 16, the Fillmore Juneteenth Festival at O'Farrell on June 17 and Bayview Juneteenth at Gilman Park on June 18.