In June 2022, Lionel and Natalie Saulsberry hosted a Juneteenth celebration in their driveway for friends, neighbors and family. The holiday commemorates Union troops freeing enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The WorldBeat Cultural Center will lead birdlovers on its second annual Harriet Tubman Freedom Bird Walk Wednesday, as celebrations of Juneteenth continue around the county.

Entrance fees to all 63 of the nation’s national parks will be waived on Thursday as the National Park Service commemorates Juneteenth.

Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger and his troops arrived at Galveston on June 19, 1865, with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. That was more than two months after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia.

The shrinking financial support coincides with many companies severing ties with LGBTQ celebrations for Pride this year.

Treat dad to a Father’s Day outing at Chase Field! The Arizona Diamondbacks will host the San Diego Padres for a 3-game weekend series. On Saturday, the first 20,000 fans will receive a Ketel Marte Silver Slugger Cap. Sunday’s game will feature a free Father’s Day Polo Shirt for the first 15,000 fans.

On Jan. 1, 1863, nearly two years into the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the freedom of “all persons held as slaves” in the still rebellious states of the Confederacy. But it didn’t mean immediate freedom.

DOUBLE DOSE OF THE BLUES: Don’t forget the 42nd Fountain Blues & Brews Festival — the state’s longest-running blues festival — has expanded to two days, both Saturday and Sunday, at downtown’s Plaza de Cesar Chavez.