Linda Harris PARADE — Juneteenth kicked off at noon Friday with a community parade featuring the Big Red band and children and adults carrying the festival’s official, 10th anniversary banner from Historic Fort Steuben, up Market Street to N. 7th and ending at Second Baptist Church in the 700 block of Adams Street

STEUBENVILLE — Residents turned out Friday for Steubenville’s Juneteenth celebration, a two-day event featuring music, food and fun.

The festivities kicked off at noon Friday with a community parade featuring the Big Red band and children and adults carrying the festival’s official 10th anniversary banner from Historic Fort Steuben, up Market Street to N. 7th Street and ending at Second Baptist Church in the 700 block of Adams Street, where food trucks and vendor tables were set up for attendees to peruse.

Juneteenth celebrates the day 160 years ago — June 19, 1865 — when 250,000 slaves in Galveston, Texas, belatedly found out they’d been freed two years earlier when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

“It was the end of slavery but the beginning of the civil rights era,” one speaker said during opening remarks. “Let us not forget the blood, sweat and tears that made this day a reality.”

Attendees had all sorts of reasons for being at the festival, with one young child saying simply “to have fun.”

“Because of our freedom,” said 14-year-old Nakhia English of Steubenville. “Just being here means a lot — it means I get to do things without someone telling me to or just being.”

A kids fun zone was set up at North End Park, with more food and vendor tables, bingo and other activities, including a “Freedom Egg Hunt” featuring a golden egg and a brand-new bicycle as the prize for the lucky child who found it.

“We also have toys we’ll be giving out all day,” committee member Tamla Hunt said. “We have a mechanical bull and Saturday we’ll have a bull riding contest with a $50 prize for the youth who stays on the longest and $100 prize for the woman and the man who can ride it the longest.

“Everything is free,” Hunt said. “We were freed on Juneteenth so we even had a free day for our vendors. We’re not trying to make money, we’re trying to break through barriers. We want people to come and have fun without worrying about money.”

The North End committee, which also includes Renee Thompson, Wylene Alexander Creech and Melanie Wares, is also giving away free hot dogs, hamburgers, water and fruit juices for kids.

“These kids are having a ball,” said Jo Smith, who drives in from her home near St. Clairsville for the event. “They’re loving it. It’s the second time I’ve been here — it’s really good to see the children in the community having fun, and I don’t even live here.”

Hunt said that’s a priority for event organizers.

“As long as the kids are happy and leave here with smiles on their faces and learn more about our shared culture and history, then Juneteenth has done exactly what we want it to do,” she said.