Keeping Folsom Juneteenth Alive - Still...

GoldCountryMedia June 2006 - (Folsom, CA) For a last-minute event that was nearly cancelled, Folsom's sixth annual Juneteenth celebration showed marked signs of life.

On a stifling Saturday afternoon near the railroad block in historic Folsom, passers-by stopped to learn about the national commemoration of the official end of slavery 141 years ago and to hear about William Leidesdorff Jr., an African-American credited as one of California's founding fathers.

Leidesdorff's ties to Folsom can still be seen. His name appears on both a street and ramp in the city. The brick building where his general store was one of the cornerstones of historic Negro Bar today is the city's historic railroad block.

It is also where the city plans to erect a new parking structure. Juneteenth Folsom chair Michael Harris hopes a marker acknowledging Leidesdorff's contribution will be incorporated into the plan.

In between talking history and looking over archived maps with Juneteenth volunteer Diane Odama, Folsom Historic District Association Vice Chair Valerie Jensen, living history volunteer Ralph Rhea and others, Harris admitted he didn't know why this year's celebration was almost cancelled.

For the past five years, the event has been held at the Negro Bar State Park. Local researcher Joe Moore and CSUS history professor Shirley Moore founded the event in Folsom, but unexpectedly backed out this year.

Harris got word while in North Carolina that the event was about to be cancelled and spent the next four weeks trying to save it.

"The desire to cancel and or eliminate our Juneteenth Folsom, Saturday 17, 2006, annual event was not a possibility in my mind," Harris said in an email.

On Saturday, he credited Historic Railroad Association member Bill Anderson with offering a new home for the event. "It always takes someone that's not willing to say no," he said of Anderson.

With a fundraiser planned later in the evening at Courtyard Gardens, Harris said he hoped to use this year's "transition event" as a jumping off point for the future, even starting a committee.

"It's an investment the city, businesses, students, the schools and, most importantly, the families in the community have to make," he said.