Caramoor Honors Juneteenth With Style This Sunday

BEDFORD, NY — The Town of Bedford and Caramoor are collaborating for a Juneteenth celebration this Sunday at Friends Field.

The organizers described it as "a day to energize and recognize." African American freedom and achievement will be celebrated.

Jeremiah Abiah, an internationally-acclaimed recording artist, vocal coach and songwriter, will perform a set at 4 p.m.

There will also be family-friendly activities scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.

Planned activities will include:

• MOVE & GROOVE! Regional jump-step star Nethmi De Silva and fellow Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester educators will show attendees how to Double-Dutch rope jump and learn the art of stepping.
• TELL YOUR STORY! Guided by Antioch Baptist Church master quilters, guests can learn how pieces of fabric joined together with love and bravery helped enslaved people find their way to freedom. You will be able to create a community quilt with neighbors.
• UNLOCK SECRET CODES! The Katonah Museum of Art will help you create paper quilt designs and celebrate how newly freed people in 1865 cheered in excitement by unraveling secret freedom codes, including the brilliant North Star.
• SOUND ART: A Caramoor teaching artist will guide you through Sound Art exploration.

The Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts is located at 149 Girdle Ridge Road in Katonah. You can RSVP for the event on their website.

Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day and Liberation Day, is a celebration of the end of slavery in the U.S. It is officially celebrated on June 19 to commemorate the day in 1865 when Union Major General Gordon Granger marched into Galveston, TX and announced that the Civil War was over. Galveston was the last city in the nation that still had slaves, and they were freed after Granger arrived.

After being celebrated by the African American community for more than a century, Juneteenth was made an official federal holiday in 2021.