Pasadena marks Juneteenth this year by turning the plaza outside City Hall into a roller rink. On Saturday, June 20 from 3 to 8 p.m., the City of Pasadena Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Department teams with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Pasadena Branch for the Juneteenth Celebration and NAACP 5th Annual Roller Jam, a free, family-friendly afternoon at Pasadena City Hall, 100 N. Garfield Ave.
The event pairs a community celebration with a good old-fashioned skate session. Roller skates can be borrowed at no cost, a live DJ keeps the plaza moving, and the Armory Center for the Arts leads arts and crafts programming. Community resource tables round out the gathering, and food will be available for purchase. The whole thing is built for all ages, whether attendees come to skate, browse or simply take in the scene.
Now in its fifth year, the Roller Jam has become a fixture of Pasadena’s Juneteenth observance. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day enslaved people in Texas learned they were free — more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation — and the holiday has become a national occasion for reflection and celebration of African American history and culture. It became a federal holiday in 2021.
The Armory Center for the Arts, the Pasadena nonprofit leading the craft activities, has anchored the city’s visual-arts scene since 1989.
The Juneteenth Celebration and NAACP 5th Annual Roller Jam will run on Saturday, June 20 from 3 to 8 p.m. at Pasadena City Hall, 100 N. Garfield Ave., Pasadena. Admission is free; free skate loans are available. For more information, call (626) 744-7300.
