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This year’s Winston-Salem Juneteenth Festival celebrates its 160th anniversary with various events, including fireworks, a procession, and a festival with live music, dance, arts, vendors, cultural events, and more.
Photo courtesy of Triad Cultural Arts.
2025 is the 26th year that Triad Cultural Arts has sponsored the Juneteenth Festival in Winston-Salem, which celebrates African American Heritage and Freedom. The Fireworks will occur on June 19 in Harmon Park, Kernersville, and the procession and festival will be held on June 21 in Winston-Salem.
What Is Juneteenth?
Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day, is celebrated annually on June 19, commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. In 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared more than three million enslaved people in Confederate states to be free. But it wasn’t until June 19, 1865, when the Union Soldiers reached Galveston, TX, that the residents finally learned slavery had been abolished. The formerly enslaved African Americans began celebrating with prayer, feasting, song, and dance. A year later, on June 19, the first official Juneteenth celebrations took place in Texas. Within years, other states began to celebrate, and it spread across the country. In 2021, Juneteenth was made a federal holiday.
Peter Oliver: African American Trailblazer
One of the exhibition booths at the Juneteenth Festival will feature information about Peter Oliver and the new Peter Oliver Pavilion Gallery Project. It is the 225th Anniversary celebrating Peter Oliver’s freedom. An enslaved man in the late 1700s, Oliver lived and worked in Salem as a Moravian Single Brother. He was known for his pottery craftsmanship, firefighting service, entrepreneurial spirit, and perseverance. He persisted in advocating for himself at a time when most enslaved people could not do so. On June 13, 1800, with the help of the Moravian Church and historical records suggesting his own contribution to the financial cost, Oliver signed the documents for his freedom in a Pennsylvania courthouse. He returned to Salem, where he lived as a freedman, respected tradesman, and church member until his death in 1810.
Following is a list of events and programs being held in conjunction with the 225 Anniversary of Peter Oliver’s freedom:
- June 13 – Family Remembrance Walk, 3:30pm, visit points of interest in Oliver’s life in Old Salem
- June 14 – Peter Oliver’s Freedom Day at Old Salem, 10am – 2pm, storytelling, hands-on demos, 11am & 2pm tours. Activities included with Old Salem general admission
- June 16 – Songs of Freedom and African American Spirituals – 6pm, Home Moravian Church
- June 17 – Peter Oliver Life and Legacy Lecture – 5:30pm, Archie K Davis Center; RSVP here
- June 18 – Peter Oliver Vault Tour – 4:30pm, Moravian Archives for the Southern Province in the Archie K. Davis Center. Wednesday Vault Tour Tickets
- June 19 – Symposium on Peter Oliver & Film Premiere – The Symposium will be 2pm – 4:30pm, and the documentary film will be shown at 7pm; both events will take place at Reynolds Place Theatre, Milton Rhodes Center
- June 20 – Bethabara Walking Tour & Moravian Archive Vault Tour – From 2:30pm to 4:30pm, walk in Peter Oliver’s footsteps at Historic Bethabara Park. Register for the walking tour here. Also, on June 20, a second Vault Tour, 5:30pm, Moravian Archives for the Southern Province in the Archie K. Davis Center. Friday Vault Tour Tickets
For More information about events see the Creative Corridors Coalition website.
Local Juneteenth Events
June 17 – Stomp The Vote
The Winston-Salem Urban League will host Stomp The Vote on June 17, 5:30pm, at 510 Trade Street, Winston-Salem. The event will feature a teen-led panel on voter rights, free food, dance performances, and a discussion about Juneteenth’s history and the African American Community.
June 19 – History Tour – The Life Of Clara Körner
On June 19 at 4pm, learn about the life of Clara Körner (also known as “Aunt Dealy”), an enslaved woman who helped care for the Körner children, with a tour of her home and personal artifacts preserved by the Körner family, enhanced by a special Juneteenth program made possible by Triad Cultural Arts. Free Admission to attend and to tour Körner’s Folly; no registration required.
June 19 – Juneteenth Flash Mobs
In tribute to the 160th Anniversary of the end of slavery in the United States, spontaneous Juneteenth Flash Mobs will occur throughout Kernersville and Winston-Salem on June 19. These surprise performances are designed to educate, inspire, and uplift through music, dance, and voice. Three local dance companies, Greater Vision Dance Company, Triad African Dance Troupe, and the Monica and Jerome International Dance Academy, will wow audiences with their nod to Black and African culture. “The impromptu nature of these performances reflects how Black culture can erupt and emerge beautifully even in the most casual spaces. We hope that as the Forsyth County community enjoys Juneteenth, one of these flash mobs will find them,” says Abrea Armstrong, Triad Cultural Arts executive director.
June 19 – Fireworks and Drone Celebration
On June 19, from 6:30 to 9 pm, Harmon Park in Kernersville will host a fireworks and drone celebration. The event will feature live music, vendors, food trucks, kids’ activities, a drone show, and fireworks.
June 20 – Film Screening – American Coup: Wilmington 1898
American Coup: Wilmington 1898 is a documentary that tells the little-known story of a deadly race massacre and carefully orchestrated insurrection in NC’s largest city in 1898 – the only coup d’état in the history of the United States. The screening will be held at Goler Memorial AME Zion Church, 3894 Northampton Dr, Winston-Salem, on June 20. The reception will be at 5:30pm, the screening at 6pm, and the panel discussion, Q&A, and prayer will follow the screening. It is free, but registration is required. Click here to register.
June 21 – Black Joy Street Procession
On June 21, at 11:30 am, the Black Joy Street Procession will begin at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Cleveland Avenue (East Winston Shopping Center, 550 N MLK Jr Drive) and end at Bailey Park (4th Street and Patterson Avenue) in the Innovation Quarter. The procession honors African American ancestors and is a walk in joy toward a freer future.
June 21 – Opening Ceremony
Following the Black Joy Procession, there will be an Opening Ceremony on the Main Stage in Bailey Park, 12:30-1:30pm, featuring drumming, dancers, choirs, and more. I addition, the names of enslaved Africans of Old Salem will be read aloud. Various artists will perform following the Opening Ceremony. See the schedule below.
June 21 – Juneteenth Festival
The festival will be held at Bailey Park and Wake Forest Biotech Place and feature vendors with a vibrant array of Afrocentric fashion and cultural treasures, original art and art prints, jewelry pieces that reflect the beauty and significance of African traditions, fragrant oils, bath salts, soy candles, heritage apparel, and more. You will find food trucks serving traditional African American dishes and authentic soul food and a culinary court where attendees can enjoy meals together. Enjoy family fun with kids’ activities, hands-on crafts, interactive games, authors reading books, and more. Music will fill the air as artists perform live music on multiple stages.
June 21 – Mcintosh County Shouters Perform
On the Biotech Place Stage (indoors), June 21, at 1:30pm & 3:30pm, Experience one of North America’s oldest surviving African American performance traditions, the southeastern ring shout, with The Mcintosh County Shouters. This stirring, drum-less, faith-rooted form of movement and song originated during slavery and reflects deep spiritual resilience and cultural endurance.
June 21 – Bailey Park Main Stage – MC’d By B-DAHT
The Main Stage in Bailey Park on June 21 is where most of the music will take place, and the MC for the day will be entertainer/comedian/celebrity B-DHAT. After the Opening Ceremony at 12:30 pm, the music will begin at 2pm and continue throughout the day. The schedule of performers is listed below:
- 2:00pm – LeVario Blue (R&B)
- 2:50pm – Nina J (R&B, Jazz)
- 3:25pm – Hype Dance (Line Dance)
- 3:40pm – The Band KruZen (Blues, R&B, Jazz)
- 4:20pm – The Choyce Band (R&B)
- 5:10pm – Greater Vision Dance (Urban, Hip-Hop, African)
- 5:25pm – Gavin “Maestro” Williams (R&B, Jazz)
- 6:15pm – Music by DJ
- 6:30pm – September (Earth Wind & Fire tribute band)
The International Black Theatre Festival
Winston-Salem is honored to be home to another significant African American event. Every two years, it becomes known as “Black Theatre Holy Ground” when hosting the International Black Theatre Festival. The NY Times stated: “The inaugural National Black Theatre Festival was one of the most historical and culturally significant events in the history of black theatre and American theatre in general.” The next festival is scheduled for July 27 – August 1, 2026. Read about it in our International Black Theatre Festival article.
What part of the Juneteenth celebration do you enjoy most? Tell us in the comments.
