Gloria Van Hof noticed that Lake, Kane, Cook and other neighboring counties had events commemorating Juneteenth, but McHenry County didn’t have one. She took this as a sign to create a festival and assembled a planning committee.

After two months of work, McHenry County’s first Juneteenth festival will be Saturday, June 17 at the Historic Woodstock Square. The national Juneteenth commemoration is Monday, June 19.

The free event, which runs from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., will include food trucks, vendors, children story time, speakers and live music. Van Hof said she expects anywhere from 150 to 300 people to attend.

Van Hof, a McHenry County Board member, is an Underground Railroad historian and has organized McHenry County Underground Railroad tours in the past. She plans on expanding next year’s Juneteenth festival to be two days and include a tour that will stop at historic sites around the area that are known to be along the Underground Railroad.

Van Hof wrote the Juneteenth proclamation that was adopted by the Crystal Lake City Council and McHenry County earlier this month.

Although President Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery on Jan. 1, 1863, the news did not reach enslaved Texans until two and half years later on June 19, 1865.

“This blatant injustice is how Juneteenth got its name,” said Toni Greathouse, organizer of Juneteenth in Joliet event, which has its second anniversary on Monday. “It literally took the Calvary riding down to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation. That day, Union Gen. Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and announced to the crowd: ‘In accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.’ ”

We want people to go away feeling empowered and inspired to do more.”

—  Gloria Van Hof, McHenry County Board member

On June 19, 1866, Blacks in Galveston marked the first anniversary with a picnic. A year after that, the Freedman’s Bureau in Austin, Texas, organized an event to reflect on the past and rejoice in the present. “Over the years, traditional Juneteenth celebrations (largely held in the South) were coordinated around picnics and family gatherings,” Greathouse said. “As Juneteenth celebrations spread, they have been expanded to emphasize education and achievement through formal programs featuring entertainment and guest speakers.”

Van Hof said McHenry County’s fest will emphasize education.

“We want people to go away feeling empowered and inspired to do more,” Van Hof said.

The Rev. Norval Brown, pastor of Cary United Methodist Church, will deliver open and closing prayers. Recent McHenry County College honors graduate Rodney Katushabe is the featured speaker. He said he will cover freedom through the lens of emancipation, jubilee and education.

“I try to portray how far we as a people have come and how far we must go,” Katushabe said. “How we can actually, at one point of time in the future, obtain absolute freedom. Not just for Black people, not just for people of color, but for the whole world.”

Katushabe opened his bookkeeping and account business, FinArk Business LLC, in Woodstock this year. He will be pursuing a major in business management and account in the fall at Northeastern Illinois University.

Darlene Benton, a gospel vocalist, will be performing along with blues artist Kenny Davis.

“The pull was so strong” to have the festival in Woodstock because of the history of Diversity Day and the historic gazebo, Van Hof said.

Van Hof is already planning for next year to be bigger and better. She hopes to be able to raise funds to offer a Juneteenth Festival Scholarship to a graduating high school student to use for college or trade school.