(Juneteenth will be celebrated Saturday in Imperial County)...The celebration will be at the El Centro Community Center on South First street.

The theme this year centers on honoring the sacrifices and resilience of the African Ancestors. The event will include praise and worship, live entertainment, food, face painting and vendors. The first 80 children to attend will receive Juneteenth Bracelets. The event is being hosted by the Imperial Valley Social Justice Committee, in partnership with Johnson Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church of El Centro, Black Lives Matter Imperial Valley, in cooperation with the City of El Centro. The event begins at 3:00 Saturday afternoon. Juneteenth is the oldest nationwide commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. It is also known as Emancipation Day. It started in 1865 in Galveston, Texas, following the announcement of General Order #3 by Union Army General Gordon Granger, which proclaimed the end of slavery in Texas.