Oak Park proclaims Junth an official city holiday and announces 2026 theme

Oak Park City Council agreed on June 3, 2024, to officially recognize Junth (Juneteenth) as a city holiday, and city leaders said the community will mark the observance with an expanded program and scholarships.

The council action came "at the recommendation of city manager Eric Tongate," the transcript states, and a speaker in the meeting affirmed the decision as unanimous: "Unanimously, we are a Junth city." The record does not list a formal vote tally in the transcript.

Junth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States and traces to the Emancipation Proclamation of Jan. 1, 1863, the speaker said. The transcript summarized how enforcement of that proclamation depended on Union military presence and noted that on June 19, 1865, U.S. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, issued General Order No. 3, and "announced the people of Texas are informed" that those enslaved there were free — a development the speaker said helped liberate roughly 250,000 people in Texas.

The meeting record also recounts the holiday's later recognition: Texas designated Junth as a state holiday in 1979, and the transcript states that Congress passed a resolution and the president signed legislation in June 2021 making Junth a federal holiday.

Local organizers told the council that Oak Park's Junth celebration has grown over the years and now includes student scholarships and recognition of "Junth Trailblazers." The city's program was described as an all-day schedule beginning at the high school with a morning program in the auditorium followed by a community block party with a stage, vendors and food.

A speaker who said they had been involved in planning Oak Park's Junth celebration for six consecutive years described the holiday as a way to acknowledge past faults, foster healing and "move toward a future of a more perfect union." The speaker identified themselves in the remarks as a member of the Junth commission and as a social worker.

City officials announced the 2026 theme as "Where freedom lives, community grows." Organizers said they aim to move beyond a single-day focus and to use the holiday to strengthen community ties and educational and economic opportunities for residents.

The council's proclamation and the event plans are the most recent procedural steps recorded in the meeting transcript; the transcript does not list an ordinance number or a formal recorded vote count. The city provided program and scholarship details in the discussion but did not specify dollar amounts or the exact number of scholarships in the transcript.