No DeKalb County Board meeting on Juneteenth

SYCAMORE – The DeKalb County Board will not meet Wednesday and will instead hold its regular meeting the following week, as county offices will be closed on June 19 for the national holiday Juneteenth.

It’s the first time since President Joe Biden declared the date a national holiday in 2021 that Juneteenth has caused a DeKalb County Board meeting to be held on a different date than usual. The next DeKalb County Board meeting will instead be held at 7 p.m. June 26.

DeKalb County Board Chairman Ellingsworth Webb, a Democrat from District 9, is the first Black chair of the board. He said he doesn’t have any qualms with the holiday forcing DeKalb County to change its schedule – next month, a similar accommodation will be made for a committee meeting originally scheduled for July 4.

“It’s ... a national holiday that has been put in place, and I think it’s an excellent way to appreciate what the whole concept about Juneteenth is all about and freedom for African Americans here,” Webb said.

Juneteenth celebrates the freeing of enslaved people in America and informally began in 1866 in Galveston, Texas, a year after Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger and his troops arrived and spread news of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and that the Civil War had ended, according to the Associated Press.

“It’s ... a national holiday that has been put in place, and I think it’s an excellent way to appreciate what the whole concept about Juneteenth is all about and freedom for African Americans here.”

—  DeKalb County Board Chair Ellingsworth Webb

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has ordered that flags fly at half-staff during the holiday. DeKalb will host some Juneteenth celebrations this weekend.

From noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, a Juneteenth community celebration will be held in Hopkins Park, 1403 Sycamore Road in DeKalb. New Hope Missionary Baptist Church will host the event, which is expected to have Black vendors, food, music and Black history trivia.

Webb, who was elected as chairperson by DeKalb County Board in February after former Democratic Chairwoman Suzanne Willis resigned, said he plans to attend the Hopkins Park celebration.

“I know I’ll be going to be the Juneteenth celebration this Saturday at 12 o’clock in the park,” Webb said. “If anyone’s interested in coming out, that’s another way of being exposed to the holiday and sharing with a community of everyone who’s out to celebrate.”