By Lookout Staff
June 18, 2026 -- Santa Monica will commemorate the official end of slavery in the United States starting on Friday, Juneteenth, and continuing Saturday with the City's 34th Annual Celebration at Virginia Avenue Park.
The City -- which launched the first city-funded Juneteenth event three decades before June 19 became a federal holiday in 2021 -- is expanding its festivities this year.
The debut event takes place at Christine Emerson Reed Park and the Miles Memorial Playhouse on Friday, June 19 from 4 to 8 p.m. and features "sound immersion, live music, an art workshop, and DJ sets by Linafornia and Black Girls Love Vinyl."
Friday's lineup includes a special film screening inside Miles Memorial Playhouse of “BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions,” a cinematic project created by visual artist and filmmaker Kahlil Joseph.
The Sundance Institute called the project “a massive, hypnotic tapestry of the Black experience across the diaspora, inspired heavily by the intellectual legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois and his vision for the Africana encyclopedia.”
Friday's celebration will be capped with a special lighting event at Pacific Park after sunset, when the world's only solar-powered Ferris Wheel marks the holiday with feature animations and transitions using its 174,000 LED lights. The lighting event can be viewed live online at www.pacpark.com/live.
Saturday from 1 to 7 p.m., Virginia Avenue Park will host the 34th Annual Juneteenth Celebration. This year’s theme, “A Legacy of Liberation: Honoring our Resistance and Resilience,” represents "the past and ongoing fight for equity and justice for Black Americans," event organizers said.
The celebration will showcase "a rich mosaic of Black musical genres, including an interactive drum workshop with Project KnuckleHead, and soul, funk and jazz performances," organizers said.
There will also be community resource booths, food trucks including The Patty Wagon, John Que’s Smokeout and Cakes By Chanté, as well as local Black-owned small businesses and vendors.
A series of art activities for all ages will celebrate the history of Belmar, Santa Monica's once vibrant Black community decimated by the building of the I-10 Freeway in the 1950s.
“By expanding our Juneteenth offerings, we hope to welcome even more people to celebrate in Santa Monica and experience the rich music, art, and cultural opportunities,” said Mayor Caroline Torosis.
“Whether you prefer a cozier gathering or a more robust community festival -- or both -- there is something for everyone as we honor this important holiday.”
Called America’s second Independence Day, Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas became the last to be officially notified of the Emancipation Proclamation.
On June 19 -- nearly three years after President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Proclamation on Januray 1, 1863 -- U.S. General Gordon Granger stood in Galveston, Texas and read General Orders No. 3.
“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”
Celebrations commemorating the date began in Texas in 1866 and involved church-centered community gatherings. The observances spread across the South, centering on food festivals in the 1920s and 1930s.
Today, the Federal holiday is celebrated across the nation with picnics, cookouts and festivals and commemorated in many cities, including Santa Monica, by closing down government buildings.
Santa Monica's annual community-based celebration, founded by longtime community activist LaVerne Ross, has a rich history at Virginia Avenue Park.
Ross is still an active member of the Juneteenth Celebration in Santa Monica Committee, which organizes the annual festival in partnership with the City.