Guilford County offices close Friday for Juneteenth observance

Guilford County offices will be closed Friday, June 19, and normal operations will resume Monday, June 22, so any in-person county business needs to be finished before the holiday. The county’s 2026 Juneteenth notice marks the day as an all-day observance, and Greensboro will also host the third annual Juneteenth Triad Farmers Market from noon to 6 p.m. at the Hayes-Taylor Memorial YMCA.

The closure reflects a policy Guilford County has carried since 2020, when the Board of Commissioners proclaimed Juneteenth a county holiday. Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, and former Gov. Roy Cooper proclaimed June 19, 2021, as Juneteenth Day in North Carolina. The holiday remembers June 19, 1865, when Union troops freed enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

The county’s public observance is built around a free, family-friendly market at 2630 E. Florida St. Hosted by Dr. Irish Spencer, also known as Wild Irish Rose, and presented by Triad Black Faith Leaders and Black Farmers Network, the event is being put on with Guilford County Small Business and Entrepreneurship Department and NC Cooperative Extension - Guilford County Center. Organizers say the market will feature local farmers, food trucks, craft and retail vendors, live music, youth activities, a youth poster contest, a raffle and a walkathon. The county used the same site for a similar Juneteenth market in 2025, when the event ran from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Residents who need county help before the long weekend should move routine visits to Thursday or after reopening on Monday. Guilford County Emergency Services says it provides paramedic-level emergency medical care, fire department support, fire code building inspections, fire investigations and emergency management, and county EMS directs medical emergencies to 911. Court users should check the North Carolina Judicial Branch’s county-by-county closings and advisories page before heading to the courthouse, while county notices, hearings, meetings, bids, foreclosures, delinquent taxes and zoning updates are centralized online. For trash and recycling, county residents outside incorporated towns and cities can use licensed haulers such as GFL Environmental at 336-668-3712 or Republic Services at 336-299-0815, and the county recycling line is 336-641-3792.