DENVER – Dozens of workers in Denver's Five Points neighborhood are preparing for this weekend's Juneteenth Music Festival.
“We have over 220 vendors that will be a part of the festival,” said Christopher Banks, marketplace vendor director. “The festival spans from Park Avenue and Downing all the way to 29th. We have four outdoor stages and three outdoor activations, which we’re calling block parties We'll have one across from the Brother Jeff Cultural Center, which we're calling the Cultural Grounds. We'll have another activation on 26th Ave., which is sponsored by AARP. And we'll have another activation on 25th Ave., which is sponsored by Connect for Health Colorado.”
Banks said this year, Juneteenth organizers have added a fourth entrance to the festival at 24th St. and Glenarm. There will also be a rideshare pickup/dropoff location at 26th Avenue.
Banks said Juneteenth brings about 100,000 people to Five Points over the two-day festival, which is especially helpful for the brick and mortar shops lining Welton Street.
“Historically, they've done at least 10 times more in business that day. So if you have a $3,000 day, it's closer to almost $30,000 on that day,” Banks said.
For Franklin and Maedella Stiger, owners of Franklin Stiger Afro Styling Barber Shop, the festival is helpful.
“We love Juneteenth down here,” Maedella Stiger said. "We've been here a little over 50 years.”
Franklin Stiger said he welcomes the additional business, but doesn’t want the meaning of the holiday — the day the last enslaved people in the U.S. in Texas learned they were free, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued — to be forgotten.
“This history, when Blacks really got free, we celebrate it, and I think it's good to keep it going,” he said.
The Juneteenth Music Festival begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday and will end Sunday evening.
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