One of the festival gates at Juneteenth in Drake Park. This year's theme is "Jubilee."

On June 19, 1865, 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to deliver freedom to the last U.S. slaves to learn the news.

It came more than two years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, four and a half months after Lincoln’s signing of the 13th Amendment, which banned slavery nationwide, and two months after the Civil War ended.

“The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as ‘Juneteenth,’ by the newly freed people in Texas,” according to The National Museum of African American History & Culture.

The following year, freed people held the first Jubilee Day in Texas, an annual tradition celebrating the hard-won freedom that eventually proliferated in other places, and in 2021, it was named a federal holiday. Juneteenth is now widely celebrated, including here in Bend this weekend, when the fourth annual Juneteenth Central Oregon comes together in Drake Park Saturday and Sunday.

Befitting its theme of “Jubilee” the Bend event “promises an immersive experience filled with authentic African, Caribbean, and African American cuisine, art, music, and education,” according to juneteenthcentralor.com.

Music and food

“The whole entire festival is just one long string of events happening,” said Kenny Adams, executive director of The Father’s Group, the nonprofit that works toward youth education and engagement and puts on Juneteenth in Bend.

The Barry Washington Jr. Stage will feature several acts, including percussionists Fode Sylla and Kevin Bujo Jones, who has played with artists including Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys.

“He has his own band, and he is a really, really good percussionist,” Adams said of Jones. “Fode, he’s a staple at the festival. He comes out every year. Fode and Kevin are going to be doing something together on stage. So that’s going to be really, really cool.”

More coverage: Juneteenth celebrated in Bend with photos, festival and memories

As for food, “We are combining three cultures — so African, Caribbean, and African American — in the food choices, giving people the ability to taste things they’re not used to,” Adams said. That includes Jamaican rice and beans, deep-fried sweet plantains, barbecued ribs and chicken, “all with African rubs and what not. It’s going to be absolutely delicious, and our food is always fire.”

“As our event coordinator said, ‘It’s a carnival in your mouth,” he said.

Education and vending

Education is a major component of Jubilee in Bend, Adams said. To that end, the Deshaun Adderley Educational Plaza, a pop-up museum named after a student who committed suicide back in 2017 due to racial bullying in Central Oregon, is tripling in size from one 20-by-30 tent last year to three such tents this year.

“They’re all full of educational Black history, Black music, history of Black dance, Black inventors,” Adams said. “That’s something that is a really heavy draw for people because you get information in little bite sizes, but it’s powerful information that they can digest quickly.”

With 45 vendors, Juneteenth has Central Oregon’s largest consolidation of Black vendors, according to Adams. The two-day festival also has just shy of 20 organizations in its educational area, including Deschutes Public Library and Portland Urban League. Some organizations and businesses conduct job interviews at the festival.

“The Juneteenth celebration has the largest consolidation of Black vendors in one setting,” Adams said. Among the regular vendors, one can find makers of drums, wooden utensils, clothing, candles and more.

Adams hopes attendees will financially support vendors and mentions a Ugandan maker who sends every bit of revenue he earns back home.

“Make sure they don’t have inventory to take home,” he said. “The general population will, say, echo Black Lives Matter. They’ll echo ‘support Black businesses,’ it’s like, OK, well, put your money where your mouth is … buy these vendors out.”

Juneteenth is all about Black history, culture and education, and Adams emphasizes the inclusivity of the event. The Father’s Group aims to link “back to our culture and how we were raised to this festival, so people can have that proximity to our culture,” he said. “In this area, there are a lot of people just have never had proximity, they’ve never had experience, and it’s time to change that.”

“This festival, at the very end of the day, is about liberation and celebrating Black joy,” Adams said. “You might get a job. You’re going to learn something new. You’re probably going to taste something new. Your taste buds are going to lose their minds.”

“Your taste buds are going to lose their minds.” —Kenny Adams

If You Go

What: Juneteenth Central Oregon Jubilee

When: 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Where: Drake Park, 777 NW Riverside Blvd., Bend

Cost: Free

Contact: juneteenthcentralor.com