Skip to content
Stamford celebrates Juneteenth as city holiday with music, art
It will also be the first time Stamford observes Juneteenth as a legal city holiday, after the Board of Representatives approved an ordinance in January designating June 19 as Juneteenth Freedom Day.
The holiday is tied to the date in 1865 when Union Army Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger issued an order in Texas announcing that enslaved individuals were free — more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021. Last year, Gov. Ned Lamont signed a bill into law to make it a state holiday starting in 2023.
The city held a Juneteenth Freedom Day celebration on Saturday at Stamford Government Center. Officials had planned for the event to take place at Mill River Park, but forecast rain led to a change in venue.
Plans for the afternoon event included face painting, arts and crafts, a book giveaway and music and dance performances.
“I think typically people think that it’s an event that should be celebrated by just one community, but really it (represents) independence for us all, so therefore all of us should be celebrating the moment together in just a joyous way,” said Carmen Hughes, Stamford’s diversity, equity and inclusion officer, ahead of Saturday’s event.
Hughes said the city has supported Juneteenth celebrations put together by other organizations and individuals in the past, but Saturday’s event was the first where the city was “leading the way” and will become an annual affair.
“This is the first time we’re doing this type of celebration,” Hughes said. “And the rationale behind this was in January of this year, we passed an ordinance to officially recognize and celebrate Juneteenth as a paid holiday for city employees.”
The ordinance, which Hughes pitched to the Board of Representatives in November 2022, states that “only those city personnel actually necessary to maintain the good order of the city shall work” on June 19. The city’s director of human resources, Al Cava, has said that such employees include police officers, firefighters and 911 dispatchers.
Employees who aren’t scheduled to work on a city holiday get the day off with pay, Cava has said. Those who do work on the holiday are compensated based on union contracts, with some receiving double-time pay.
Stamford’s budget for the fiscal year ending June 30 didn’t factor in Juneteenth as a city holiday. After the ordinance’s passage, the Simmons administration requested an appropriation of roughly $500,000 from the city’s contingency reserve to cover the estimated cost of paying essential employees at holiday pay rates for Juneteenth this year.
Members of the Board of Finance said they were disappointed that the Board of Representatives passed the holiday ordinance without their input but nevertheless approved the appropriation.
