Garland Juneteenth Celebration

Date: June 14, 2025

Time: 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Location(s):

Downtown Garland Square

Join us in celebrating freedom and unity at the City of Garland's annual Juneteenth event on Saturday, June 14 at the Downtown Square!

Experience the emancipation commemoration through live entertainment. Indulge in the delicious food of local downtown restaurants, explore the children's activity area, and reflect on the day's historical significance.

now Accepting Vendor Applications

One of the festival’s biggest draws to this free community event is the variety of local goods. Sign up today if you have a business, product, or service you’d like to feature at the festival!

Click here for the Juneteenth Vendor Booth Information & Application Form. Please thoroughly read the Application Information. The deadline to submit your application is Friday, May 2, 2025.

Juneteenth Honorary Ambassador

Are you or someone you know an active volunteer, dedicated resident, and passionate advocate for your community?

At this time, the Juneteenth Committee is looking for a Juneteenth Honorary Ambassador. The Juneteenth Honorary Ambassador will be expected to positively represent the City of Garland at events, greet those attending the City's Juneteenth event, and share the spirit of Juneteenth through engagement and advocacy.

Click here to nominate someone you think would be a great fit to be the Juneteenth Honorary Ambassador.

Deadline to nominate is May 2, 2025.

Tea Cake Competition

Interested in showcasing your baking skills in our upcoming Tea Cake Competition taking place during our Juneteenth Celebration?

Then apply to be compete today!

Each applicant should be prepared to provide a dozen tea cakes for the judges to taste as well as the ingredient list (for safety purposes).

The ideal tea cake should be the perfect balance of cookie and cake. Tea cakes will be judged on the texture, sweetness, presentation, and if the tea cake breaks with a satisfying snap.

The deadline to submit your application is May 31.

Call for Art Entries

The City of Garland is pleased to announce a call for entries for the 2025 Juneteenth Celebration, where an exhibition spotlighting 2D visual artists inspired by Juneteenth will be displayed.

Selected art will be displayed during the city of Garland’s Juneteenth Celebration on June 14, from 5-9 p.m. The art will then be moved and displayed at Epiphany Gallery.

Viewers will be encouraged to visit Epiphany following the celebration to see the complete exhibition.

Artist entries from artists living in Garland and the greater North Texas area will be accepted.

Click here for more information and to submit an entry. The last day to submit your entry is Friday, May 16.

Parking in Downtown Garland

Looking for a place to park for the event?

Then check out our Downtown Garland parking map!

We've made it easy for you to find convenient parking spots, so you can spend less time searching and more time enjoying the festivities.

ADA parking for the event will be available in the parking garage located behind Garland City Hall. Golf cart rides will also be available and can be accessed near the first floor elevator.

Sponsorship Levels/Opportunities

Gold Partner - $5,000

Name and Logo on Website and Event Flyer
Name/business page listed and tagged in all social media posts
Name and Logo on event signage (including the stage banners)
One free 10x20 booth space
Name shared from stage during the event
Six commemorative t-shirts

Silver Partner - $2,500

Name and Logo on Website and Event Flyer
Name/business page listed and tagged in all social media posts
Name and Logo on event signage (excluding the stage banners)
One free 10x10 booth space
Four commemorative t-shirts

Bronze Partner - $1,000

Name and Logo on Website and Event Flyer
Name on Event Signage (excluding Stage Banners)
Name tagged in a minimum of three (3) social media posts
Two commemorative t-shirts

Friend Of Juneteenth - $500

Name and Logo on Website
Two commemorative t-shirts

Promotional Product Give-Away - $2000

Name and Logo on Website and Event Flyer
Business name printed on (1) Juneteenth Promo Item – Quantity of 500

Bottled Water Sponsor - $1000

Name and Logo on Website and Event Flyer
Business name printed on the label of water bottles – Quantity of 500

Snow Cone Sponsor - $900

Name and Logo on Website
Name on event signage placed by snow cone food truck

Interested in sponsoring? Tap here to discover our Event Sponsorship Packages.

Scenes from Garland Juneteenth 2022

Garland proudly hosted its inaugural Juneteenth event on June 19, 2022, featuring food, music, and the meaning of this important day.

Juneteenth: Freedom Comes to Texas

The Texas Historical Commission hosted a discussion, in 2022, that retraces how Freedom was spread in Texas.

Why Celebrating Juneteenth is Important

"Juneteenth is important, because it reminds us of what we came through and what we can achieve. ...the reason General Order Number 3 existed and the Union Army fought to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation, is because slavery existed. It's important to remember what we went through and that we were able to get out of the bondage of slavery as a nation. It's an important reminder and it’s important that we understand what it took. It's also important that the Juneteenth holiday survives. It allows each generation to reflect what more there is to do. Juneteenth places Black people at the center of the conversation about freedom, it's meaning and manifestation in this nation.

July 4th is about liberty, but it was an imperfect liberty, because slavery still legally existed in the nation. Both holidays should be acknowledged because they are important moments in our shared history.

We should regularly consider the evolution of the meaning of freedom as we look at certain moments in the nation’s past and present. Someone can deeply appreciate why Juneteenth was important for the Poor People's Campaign. Why Juneteenth is important in relation to the events in relation to the disproportionate and unfair deaths of African Americans. Why Juneteenth is important when we think about enforcing our rights to vote and how we define citizenship in this nation.

Juneteenth should really be a rallying call for all of us to think about the meaning of freedom, particularly regarding African Americans, as well as to the nation and the rest of the world."

Mary Elliott

Curator of American Slavery at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC)
Source: "Why is Juneteenth Important”- NMAAHC.si.edu

I think that Juneteenth is a necessary moment of observation because our government and, to a certain degree, our nation and our culture has not really acknowledged the trauma of 4 million enslaved people and their descendants. It hasn’t acknowledged the impact this institution has had on this country and continues to have on this country. There hasn’t been a national accounting, and I think the Juneteenth holiday is kind of a reminder of that. And it will continue to be a reminder and a haunting until we do. It’s necessary, but it isn’t sufficient in terms of what we need to when it comes to acknowledging this history.

Karlos Hill
Professor of African and African-American studies at the University of Oklahoma and author of Beyond the Rope: The Impact of Lynching on Black Culture and Memory.

Source: "Why celebrating Juneteenth is More Important Now than Ever ”; P.R. Lockhart Jun 19, 2018

Garland Juneteenth Celebration

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June 14, 2025 | 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Category(s):

Events & Festivals

Free Fun

Family Friendly