{"id":849757,"date":"2026-06-07T02:13:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T02:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/849757\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T02:13:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T02:13:19","slug":"north-lawndale-neighbors-host-early-juneteenth-celebration-at-douglas-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/849757\/","title":{"rendered":"North Lawndale neighbors host early Juneteenth celebration at Douglas Park"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A season of Juneteenth celebrations in Chicago kicked off at Douglass Park Saturday afternoon with enthusiastic speeches, music, food and fanfare.<\/p>\n<p>For more reasons than just the abnormally early date, Saturday\u2019s weeks-early Juneteenth celebration was not standard. North Lawndale neighbors celebrated both the upcoming Juneteenth holiday, which recognizes the emancipation of American slaves and the centennial of historic Route 66.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"mng-gallery-initialized mng-gallery-slider\">\n<li data-index=\"1\" class=\"mng-ge mng-gallery-active\" id=\"mng-ge-0\" aria-hidden=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A group of dancers are reflected in a gymnasium mirror...\" class=\"size-article_inline\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CTC-L-Juneteenth-Celebration-01.jpg\"\/>\n<p>A group of dancers are reflected in a gymnasium mirror as they perform during the Douglass Juneteenth Celebration at the Douglass Park Cultural and Community Center Saturday, June 6, 2026, in Chicago. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"2\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Children lick spoons of Italian ice during the Douglass Juneteenth...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CTC-L-Juneteenth-Celebration-05.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CTC-L-Juneteenth-Celebration-05.jpg\"\/>\n<p>Children lick spoons of Italian ice during the Douglass Juneteenth Celebration at the Douglass Park Cultural and Community Center Saturday, June 6, 2026, in Chicago. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"3\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-2\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A volunteer holds bracelets and miniature flags for attendees of...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CTC-L-Juneteenth-Celebration-03.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CTC-L-Juneteenth-Celebration-03.jpg\"\/>\n<p>A volunteer holds bracelets and miniature flags for attendees of the Douglass Juneteenth Celebration at the Douglass Park Cultural and Community Center Saturday, June 6, 2026, in Chicago. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"4\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-3\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Attendees wait in line for a buffet lunch during the...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CTC-L-Juneteenth-Celebration-07.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CTC-L-Juneteenth-Celebration-07.jpg\"\/>\n<p>Attendees wait in line for a buffet lunch during the Douglass Juneteenth Celebration at the Douglass Park Cultural and Community Center Saturday, June 6, 2026, in Chicago. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Show Caption<\/p>\n<p>1 of 4<\/p>\n<p>A group of dancers are reflected in a gymnasium mirror as they perform during the Douglass Juneteenth Celebration at the Douglass Park Cultural and Community Center Saturday, June 6, 2026, in Chicago. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\" class=\"icon-enlarge mng-gallery-fullscreen-expand\" aria-label=\"Expand fullscreen slideshow\">Expand<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Jonathan Kelley, 54, of the community museum Lawndale Pop-up Spot, worked with Ahdohny Routheni, 38, of Juneteenth Renaissance Institute to put on Saturday\u2019s small event.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis [Juneteenth Celebration] is unique and special because of the intentional connection with Route 66,\u201d Kelley said. \u201cFor North Lawndale, the centennial of Route 66 is pretty important because of the history of Ogden Avenue, its importance for this neighborhood both economically and culturally as an area of moving. We wanted to really embrace that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Historic Route 66 connected Chicago to Santa Monica, California. The thoroughfare played an integral role in The Great Migration, when millions of Black Americans moved from the Southeastern United States to the Midwest and West in search of better socioeconomic opportunities, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chipublib.org\/the-great-migration\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chicago Public Library.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is where Route 66 began, in the heart of the west side. This is also where Martin Luther King\u2019s Poor People\u2019s Campaign began,\u201d Routheni said. \u201cThis is the road that made cities or broke families. When you had displaced Native Americans and misplaced Black people of slavery descent, Route 66 represented the dream of America.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Neighbors were able to enjoy a tram ride on Ogden Avenue to learn more about the local history with the North Lawndale Historical and Cultural Society. Beyond the drive, attendees enjoyed music, food, crafts, poetry reading and dance performances.<\/p>\n<p>The celebration is among the first to happen in Chicagoland. There are plenty more free festivities to happen throughout the metro area in celebration of Juneteenth. Here are just a few happening in the area.<\/p>\n<p>Upcoming Chicago Juneteenth festivals:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Juneteenth Wellness 5K<\/strong> | June 14, 7:30 a.m.-noon, Garfield Park Football Field, 138 S. Hamlin Blvd., West Garfield Park<\/p>\n<p><strong>2nd Annual Lineage &amp; Legacy Juneteenth Jubilee<\/strong> | June 19, 4445 S. King Drive,, Grand Boulevard<\/p>\n<p><strong>1865 Fest<\/strong> | June 19 and June 20, noon-8 p.m., Garfield Park Music Court Circle, 100 S. Woodward Drive, Garfield Park<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bronzeville\u2019s 6th Annual Juneteenth Celebration<\/strong> | June 20, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., 3701 S. King Drive, Douglas<\/p>\n<p><strong>12th Annual Chicago Juneteenth Parade<\/strong> | June 20, 11 a.m., 2901 W. Monroe Street, Garfield Park<\/p>\n<p><strong>Boxing out Negativity Juneteenth Celebration<\/strong> | June 19, 3-7 p.m., 1616 South Avers Avenue, North Lawndale<\/p>\n<p><strong>Juneteenth Celebration<\/strong> | June 14, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., 405 North Euclid Avenue, Oak Park<\/p>\n<p><strong>The 7th Annual Beverly\/Morgan Park Juneteenth Family Festival<\/strong> | June 20, noon-7 p.m., Intersection of\u00a0 W. 110th Street\u00a0 and\u00a0 S. Longwood Drive, Morgan Park<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A season of Juneteenth celebrations in Chicago kicked off at Douglass Park Saturday afternoon with enthusiastic speeches, music,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":849758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,21182,5386,1818,6607,22376],"class_list":["post-849757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-chicago","tag-douglass-park","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-juneteenth","tag-route-66"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116706411283599767","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}