Juneteenth Commemorated by the City of Urbana

JUNETEENTH

To commemorate the end of slavery in the United States, the City of Urbana will celebrate and acknowledge Juneteenth as an official holiday.

The official Juneteenth Flag will also be raised in a ceremony on Friday, June 17, 2022 at noon directly in front of the Urbana City Building, located at 400 South Vine Street, Urbana. Immediately following the flag raising, Mayor Diane Wolfe Marlin will read a proclamation officially dedicating June 19, 2022 as Juneteenth in the City of Urbana. 

Human Together

“My humanity is bound up on yours, for we can only be human together” – Desmond Tutu, Human Rights Activist and Theologian

The City will also participate in HV Neighborhood Transformation’s Juneteenth Celebration and Kick-off to Forty Days of Peace on Saturday, June 18, 2022, at 2 p.m. at Crestview Park, which is located at 1802 South Cottage Grove Avenue, Urbana. Mayor Marlin will read a Mayoral Proclamation at the kick-off, as well. The City will also have an information booth at the celebration. 

To further commemorate the end of slavery in the United States, the City of Urbana will celebrate Juneteenth as a holiday for City offices that support non-continuous operations. This year, because Juneteenth occurs on a Sunday, the holiday will occur on Monday, June 20, 2022. The Urbana Free Library will also be closed on Sunday, June 19, 2022, to commemorate Juneteenth. All City offices that do not support continuous operations will be closed on Monday, June 20, 2022. The City Council Committee of the Whole meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 21, 2022.