Atchison Juneteenth marks 20 years of freedom and unity this weekend

Atchison’s Juneteenth Celebration will turn the city’s north side into a weekend gathering place for families, neighbors and visitors, with organizers marking 20 years of Freedom and Unity under this year’s theme, United We Stand. The celebration runs Friday through Sunday, June 12 through June 14, and city materials describe it as the largest free Juneteenth celebration in the country.

The weekend starts Friday at 6 p.m. with a co-ed Jump-Off Softball Game at Millard Allen Ball Park, at 8th and Riley Street. That opening set the tone for an event built around participation as much as remembrance, with recreation and community pride leading into the rest of the holiday weekend.

Saturday is the main day, with activities beginning at 11 a.m. at LFM Park, 1101 North 7th Street. The Juneteenth Freedom Day Parade will run along two routes, and the park program will expand into a festival with a drill team, trolley tour, live bands, bingo, a cake walk, vendors, and free food and drinks. The celebration will also include the grand opening of the Atchison Historic Black Business District Museum, placing the holiday squarely in the center of the city’s Black history.

The museum will open in a 1920 structure in the 1100 block of North 7th Street, across from LFM Park, in a building the Atchison County Historical Society said it began work on Nov. 9, 2024. The historical society says the project is meant to preserve Black history, increase awareness of Black contributions to Atchison and help revive the district. The effort has also been shaped by community memory, including interviews with elders and work led by Patty Boldridge with the historical society.

That preservation work gives this year’s Juneteenth a larger meaning than a single weekend. The museum is being developed as both a cultural home and a neighborhood anchor, tying public history to the business corridor once central to Atchison’s Black-owned enterprise.

The celebration itself traces back to 2006, when Don Bratton and Valarie Ford appeared before county commissioners to seek support for a Juneteenth event at LFM Park. County records show officials approved a $200 corporate sponsorship that year, and committee materials say the annual celebration originated in April 2006. Since then, the city has continued to issue Juneteenth proclamations, including one read by Mayor La Rochelle Young recognizing June as Juneteenth Celebration Month.

For Atchison, the weekend offers more than a parade and a park full of activity. It brings families downtown, honors a 20-year tradition and adds a museum meant to keep Black history visible long after the festival ends.