Juneteenth Celebration With Free Roller Skating at City Hall Saturday

The City of Pasadena Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Department and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will host the city’s fourth annual Juneteenth celebration Saturday, June 14, from 4-9 p.m. at Pasadena City Hall, 100 North Garfield Avenue.

The free community event aims to commemorate African Americans’ freedom and achievements while encouraging continuous self-development and honoring a brighter future.

The celebration will feature the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s fourth annual Roller Jam, offering free roller skate rentals for attendees who want to participate in skating activities on the City Hall plaza. This marks an improvement from 2024, when roller skates were rented for $10. Several skating groups are expected to participate, including Skyhigh Rollers 420, Inglewood Roller Skaters, Lovergirl Skate Club, and Black Girls Skate International.

Family-friendly activities will include arts and crafts supervised by the Armory Center for the Arts, along with designated play areas, bounce houses for younger attendees, and community resources. DJ Lady P will provide music throughout the event, and food will be available for purchase from vendors.

The Armory Center for the Arts, housed in Pasadena’s historic 1932 National Guard Building, has partnered with the celebration since its inception. The center originated as the education department of the Pasadena Art Museum in 1947.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union Major-General Gordon Granger announced in Galveston, Texas, that enslaved people were free. “The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer,” Granger declared. On that day, over 250,000 enslaved people in Galveston received news of their emancipation, marking the effective end of slavery two years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

The holiday became a federal holiday when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law on June 17, 2021, making it the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was adopted in 1983.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Pasadena Branch, led by President Brandon Lamar, has served the community for more than 100 years since receiving its charter on September 8, 1919, as the 16th charter issued by the National National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

For more information about the celebration, contact the Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Department at (626) 744-7300. For information about the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Pasadena Branch, contact (626) 793-1293 or naacppasadena@gmail.com.