County announces Juneteenth events

Area residents and visitors alike can take part in a full slate of Juneteenth events in Montgomery County.

Montgomery County will hold an inaugural flag-raising ceremony at 10 a.m. on June 17 at the Montgomery County Courthouse at the intersection of Airy and Swede streets in downtown Norristown.

Juneteenth was first declared as a Montgomery County holiday in 2020, and this year it will be observed on Monday, June 20.

The historic day marks the end of slavery in the U.S. Although the Emancipation Proclamation took effect in 1863, it was not until June 19, 1865, that enslaved people in Texas were finally freed.

The event is open to the public and will feature remarks from local and county elected officials. The 2022 Art and Prose of Freedom contest winners are expected to be recognized and a reading from the Emancipation Proclamation will take place.

In Lansdale, special tours of the Peter Wentz Farmstead are scheduled for June 18 and June 19. The tours will focus on the lives of the enslaved people owned by the Wentz family and how their stories connect to the larger history of slavery in early Pennsylvania.

Tours are scheduled for each half-hour. The museum, located at 2030 Shearer Road, is a National Underground Railroad Network

to Freedom site. For tickets and more information, visit pwfjuneteenthtours.eventbrite.com.

Additionally, a Juneteenth book club and lecture honoring the history of the Black experience in America will begin at 10 a.m. on June 18 at Pottsgrove Manor, located at 100 W. King St., in Pottstown. The weekend event will feature Robert Hewitt, a professor emeritus from Shippensburg University.

The book club will discuss Edward E. Baptist’s “The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of America.” Those interested in participating in the book club must register online.

Hewitt will then give a lecture, “Together in History” at 1 p.m., sharing the importance of incorporating Black history into our shared narrative. The lecture is open to the public without preregistering.

In addition, the following Juneteenth events will take place in and around Montgomery County:

• Juneteenth Celebration on the Main Line will take place from 12-5 p.m. Saturday at the Mazie B Hall Park, located at 1013 Upper Gulph Road in Wayne

• Charles Blockson Exhibit Opening will take place from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at The Centre Theatre, located at 208 DeKalb St. in Norristown

• YWCA Tri-County Pottstown 26th Annual Tribute to Exceptional Women and Girls will take place 5 — 8 p.m. on June 16 at Meredith Manor Venue, located at 2270 Pottstown Pike in Pottstown

• Jazzy Juneteenth will take place from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on June at the North Wales Area Library, located at 233 Swartley St. in North Wales

• Lansdale Black Business Association Juneteenth Event will take place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on June 18 at Memorial Park, located at 300 E. Main St. in Lansdale

• Delta Sigma Theta Valley Forge Alumni Wreath Laying at the Patriots of African Descent Monument will take place from 10-11 a.m., along the Joseph Plumb Martin Trail in Upper Merion Township

• Salem Baptist Church Freedom Day: A Juneteenth Celebration will take place from 12-6 p.m. on Saturday, June 18: 12 — 6 p.m., Salem Baptist Church, located at 2741 Woodland Road in Abington

• Suburban Baptist Association Women’s Auxiliary Juneteenth Freedom Day will take place from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on June 18 at the Lukens Park pavilion, located at 455 Samantha Lane in Horsham

• Juneteenth Celebration on the Main Line will take place from 2-6 p.m. on June 18 at the Vernon V. Young Memorial Park playground, located at 124 Ardmore Ave. in Ardmore

• Eastern Montgomery County Juneteenth Celebration 2022 will take place on June 18 and June 19 in Willow Grove. Visit the event’s website for more information.

• NAACP Norristown Family Fun Juneteenth Event will take place from 1-4 p.m. on June 19 at the Elmwood Park Zoo, located at 1661 Harding Blvd. in Norristown

• Juneteenth Jubilee Street Festival will take place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on DeKalb Street, between Lafayette and Penn streets, as well as on Main Street, from DeKalb to Green streets.

• 2022 Phoenixville Juneteenth Celebration will take place from 2-6 p.m. on June 19 on the 200 block of Bridge Street in Phoenixville.

• The Bamboo Man and the Drinking Gourd, presented By Opera North, Inc., will take place from 4-5 p.m. on June 22 at the Upper Dublin Public Library, located at 520 Virginia Drive in Fort Washington

For updated information about Montgomery County Juneteenth events please visit www.montcopa.org/ Juneteenth.

The Juneteenth logo.