HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- A Juneteenth Celebration was held Saturday at Dorey Park.
Henrico Recreation & Parks hosted the festivities, which featured local vendors, foods trucks and live performances.
There was also a kids’ zone with games and activities.
The event was scheduled through 10 p.m. and will close out with a fireworks finale.
Juneteenth commemorates when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, in 1865, two months after the Confederacy had surrendered in the Civil War and about 2 1/2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in Southern states.
Last year, Congress and President Joe Biden moved swiftly to make Juneteenth a national holiday. It was the first time the federal government had designated a new national holiday since approving Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.
