Youngstown Juneteenth celebration: What you need to know

Youngstown will observe Juneteenth on Thursday with a fireworks and food truck celebration downtown and a festival of new theatrical works presented by the Youngstown Playhouse. The events commemorate the day in 1865 when the last enslaved people in the Confederacy learned of their freedom.

The city's Juneteenth Fireworks and Food Trucks Celebration is scheduled for Thursday at Wean Park, on the side adjacent to the Covelli Centre. Entertainment and food trucks will begin serving at 5 p.m., with a fireworks display planned for dark.

Public seating will be available, and those attending are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets. Free parking will be offered at the Covelli Centre. The Market Street Bridge will be closed from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Thursday to facilitate fireworks setup and ensure public safety.

Also on Thursday, the Youngstown Playhouse will host a Juneteenth Festival of New Works at its Playhouse Lane location. The evening will begin at 7 p.m. and feature staged readings of plays by six playwrights.

The festival, which will allow audience members to provide comments to the playwrights, supports participants from the Playhouse's first playwriting workshop and contest. Admission is $5.

Juneteenth, observed annually on June 19, celebrates the effective end of slavery in the United States. While the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln on Jan. 1, 1863, it took more than two years for the news and enforcement to reach all enslaved people.

On June 19, 1865, Union Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced that more than 250,000 enslaved people in the state were free under the terms of the proclamation.

Legend holds that upon hearing the news, formerly enslaved people in Galveston immediately ceased working, began cooking, and celebrated by sharing stories of their past lives.