Join us on the County Courthouse lawn for a Juneteenth BBQ hosted by the City of Helena, with free food cooked by the local fire department. We will have traditional lawn games, community art-making, music, and educational materials on Black history in the spirit of traditional Emancipation Day celebrations that took place across Montana in the early 20th century. This event is free and open to all.

Join the Helena community in celebrating freedom for all at this year’s Juneteenth activities! June 19 commemorates the day in 1865 when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to take control of the state and to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation, which had declared the end of slavery in places under Confederate control two and a half years earlier. The proclamation had been largely ignored in Texas. Newly freed Black people celebrated and started an annual tradition of Juneteenth commemorations with music, barbecues, church services, and other activities.  

This year, Alive at Five, the City of Helena, the Montana Historical Society, The Myrna Loy, and the Holter Museum of Art have partnered to bring you the following events:  

WEDS., JUN. 18  

5 to 9 pm: Alive @ Five at Lewis and Clark Brewing  

THURS., JUN. 19  

*All events at The Myrna Loy and the County Courthouse lawn  

4:15 & 5:30 pm: Black History Tour Train (prior registration required)  

5 to 7 pm: City BBQ (free and open to all)  

- Food provided by the Helena Fire Department  

- Sidewalk chalk and community artmaking  

- Traditional lawn games and family fun  

7:30 pm: Performance by spoken word artist Blck Agua and film director/author Nnamdi Kanaga (tickets required)  

From the 1880s until at least the 1930s, Black communities across Montana held Emancipation Day celebrations in Anaconda, Basin, Billings, Butte, Great Falls, Helena, and Miles City. Attendance ranged from several dozen to as many as a thousand people, with railways often offering reduced fares for the day. Aside from ample food, celebrations featured speeches from Black pastors and White politicians, dancing, music, theatrical performances, target shooting, baseball, boating, fishing, racing, lawn games, and the occasional greased pole climbing contest. In 1885, The Montana Record-Herald characterized the Helena celebration as a “whirlwind of mirth and festivity,” and the following year, Bozeman’s Mrs. Ely called the Helena gathering “the proudest day of her life.”