KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas Citians of all ages took to the 18th and Vine Jazz District Saturday for the JuneteenthKC 2022 cultural parade.
WATCH A REPLAY OF OUR COVERAGE:
Jackson County Executive Frank White Jr. will serve as grand marshal for the parade, which has more than 70 entries and begins at noon on Saturday.
The parade route runs from East 18th Street and Benton Boulevard to East 18th and Vine streets.
KSHB 41 News anchors Kevin Holmes and Dia Wall are among the parade hosts.
You can watch live coverage of the parade starting at noon Saturday on kshb.com.
The public is invited to bring lawn chairs and take part in activities at the Powered Up Evergy Block along East 18th Street between Woodland and Brooklyn avenues.
Cumulus Media, Geico, T-Mobile, Reece Nichols and Carter Broadcasting also will have blocks set up along the parade route.
In addition to the block sponsors, there will activities sponsored by KSHB 41, the Missouri Division of Tourism, the Kansas City Neighborhood Tourism and Development Fund, KC Parks and Recreation, Honeywell, Heartland Coca-Cola, Hallmark Mahogany, Arvest Bank, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City, Healthy Blue Missouri, the Kauffman School, the American Jazz Museum, the Kansas City Current and Union Pacific.
Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day, commemorates the de facto end of slavery in the U.S. after word of the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation finally reached Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865.
Congress passed legislation last year to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, the first since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was recognized in 1983.
Officially, the day is now known as Juneteenth National Independence Day.
—
