Fun, food and full bellies: Juneteenth celebration comes to Riverfront Park
The Inland Northwest Juneteenth Coalition will host a celebration festival Friday at Riverfront Park's North Bank as part of its 15th Annual Juneteenth Celebration: "Unfinished Dreams of Freedom."
The festival will run from noon to 4 p.m. in collaboration with the city and will feature vendors, food, music, speakers and a "family feel," according to coalition co-chair Michael Bethely.
Juneteenth - a contraction of June and nineteenth - became a federal holiday under the Biden administration in 2021 and commemorates the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865, two years after American slaves were awarded their freedom by President Abraham Lincoln.
"A successful day (Friday) is everyone just enjoying themselves, enjoying each other and celebrating the cause of Juneteenth and the freedom of being able to have the celebration that we're doing and bringing everyone together with love, with understanding," Bethely said.
"And with fun and food and full bellies," he added.
Free hamburgers and hotdogs will be available for kids under 12 years old, and food trucks, including Miss Donna's Jamaican Food, will be in attendance.
The coalition will also cook and sell catfish - a big draw for past Juneteenth attendees - to fund its scholarships, which are available for high school students with top GPAs.
Bethely said one of the most important pillars of Juneteenth is education. He hopes attendees of the celebrations can come to understand why the holiday is considered an independence day.
The day reiterates a historical intentionality in preventing Black Americans from obtaining freedom after slavery ended, Bethely explained, which is why he believes the joy and togetherness of the community is so important more than 160 years later.
"We're doing it so we can educate and help people understand where we come from or what we've gone through, and then to be able to share that with others so they can know and have a better understanding of who we are as people, and we can grow together," he said.
Bethely believes education and knowledge prevents division and consequently promotes unity and understanding across communities and cultures.
"You don't know what you don't know," Bethely said. "For lack of knowledge, people perish."
On Saturday is a celebration at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. with free entertainment, food, local vendors and more. From 4-6 p.m., the celebration continues with the Miss Juneteenth Scholarship Program Pageant from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Spokane Community College Auditorium. Tickets are $25 via stripe.com.
To conclude the day, the coalition will host the Pillar Awards at the Fox Theater to celebrate "pillars" of the Spokane community that are "bending over backwards to help" others.
The free semiformal event will start at 6 p.m. with a social hour before the official ceremony begins at 7 p.m. Tickets can be reserved at inwjc.org.
Awards are divided into five categories: individual, businesses, nonprofits, church or religious organizations and the Heartwood Award, which recognizes an elder who has supported and solidified the community through a variety of phases and needs.
"The heartwood of a tree is that middle of the tree that is the strongest part, that helps as the tree grows, that heartwood is stronger," Bethely said.
Award recipients have been nominated via submissions to the Inland Northwest Juneteenth Coalition. Nominations are now closed, and finalists have been notified.
"I'm just encouraging people to come down with an open heart and open mind and a willingness to celebrate," Bethely said.
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.
This story was originally published June 18, 2026 at 7:11 PM.