Second ever Juneteenth in La Crosse celebrating slavery’s end

Free event to take place at Southside Neighborhood Center

Some adjustments to this year’s Juneteenth even in La Crosse this year.

This is the second year of the event in La Crosse, which celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S. back in 1865.

“The best way to put it, to simplify it, is this is the African-American’s Fourth of July,” organizer Cecil Adams said.

This year’s Juneteenth – June 19 – will be moved from Copeland Park to the Southside Neighborhood Center.

Adams says the hope was to hold it at the newly christened Poage Park, but construction there wasn’t finished in time.

There is plenty of involvement by local groups both private and public, according to Adams.

“The city, the county, the pump house, the school district, everyone’s going to be there,” he said. “It’s going to be a very unique experience.”

The event is free and open to the public and will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, and Adams said the first 150 people will get a a free meal ticket from the Grill Spot mobile food truck in La Crosse.

Last year’s event in Copeland Park was lightly attended in part, says Adams, because it was the first one but also because it rained.