What is Scottsdale Juneteenth?
Juneteenth marks June 19, 1865, when a Union general arrived in Galveston, Texas, to tell enslaved people there that they were free, about two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. It became a federal holiday in June 2021. Scottsdale’s short history with it has had three phases, and possibly a prologue.
A 2020 start? The city’s 75th-anniversary booklet, Honor the Past, Imagine the Future, lists among the events of 2020 that “Scottsdale celebrated its first Juneteenth holiday at Eldorado Park.” Eldorado Park is in south Scottsdale. The event would have fallen in the first pandemic summer, two years before the council made Juneteenth a city holiday and a year before it became a federal one. We found no newspaper coverage, city press release or photograph of a 2020 event. The 2022 council report and the 2023 coverage don’t mention one either, and they don’t call the 2022 celebration the first. Both versions may be true: an Eldorado Park gathering in 2020, then an official city celebration after the 2022 ordinance. We have followed the city’s booklet and given 2020 as the starting year, but treat it as the city’s claim until someone finds the 2020 record.
The city holiday (2022). On April 5, 2022, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 4539, adding Juneteenth to the city’s paid holidays. Because June 19 fell on a Sunday that year, city offices closed Monday, June 20. The staff report put the cost at about $0.5 million a year ($0.4 million from the General Fund), which it tied to employees who have to work on holidays and are paid time and a half. It noted that six other Arizona cities, Avondale, Goodyear, Phoenix, Sierra Vista, Tempe and Tolleson, already observed the day.
The city celebration (2022–2024). City staff organized a free Community Juneteenth Celebration for June 19, 2022. In 2023 it returned on Saturday, June 17, from 2 to 7 p.m., in and around the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts and the Civic Center. It was hosted by the city and Scottsdale Arts and presented by Mayo Clinic, and Mayor David Ortega called it “the highlight of June Days.”
The cancellation and the hand-off (2025–2026). In February 2025 the council voted 5–2 to dissolve the city’s diversity, equity and inclusion office. A March 7, 2025 memo ended the city’s annual Juneteenth celebration. In 2026 the Arizona NAACP State Conference, in partnership with Mayor Lisa Borowsky, announced an “inaugural Scottsdale Juneteenth”: a free evening Freedom Festival on the Civic Center on June 13 and a Faith & Family Freedom Awards Breakfast on June 19.
What the celebrations have looked like
2022. The council report planned the first celebration for June 19, 2022, at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts. A city photo published with 2023 coverage captions a scene from the June 19, 2022 celebration as being at Scottsdale Stadium. The two sources differ, and the venue may have changed after the report was written. We could not confirm which.
2023. The best-documented city edition. It ran on a Saturday afternoon, indoors and out, across the Center for the Performing Arts and the Civic Center at 7380 E. Second St. The program offered culture, entertainment, music, wellness information, presentations and career opportunities, plus free admission to the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art next door. A public art exhibit marked the roughly 900 days between the Emancipation Proclamation and the news reaching Galveston. Sponsors besides Mayo Clinic included HonorHealth, Fry’s Food Stores, PetSmart, Renewal by Andersen, the Scottsdale Fire Fighters Association and SRP. Admission and parking were free, and RSVPs were encouraged but not required. It ran as part of June Days, the city’s month of Old Town programming for residents.
2024. We found no coverage confirming whether the city held a celebration in 2024. KJZZ’s account of the March 2025 memo calls Juneteenth the city’s “annual” celebration, which suggests it did, but that is not proof.
2026. According to the organizers’ sponsorship packet, as reported by the Scottsdale Progress, the Arizona NAACP’s version had two parts:
- Scottsdale Juneteenth Freedom Festival, Saturday, June 13, 6–11 p.m., on the Civic Center’s outdoor grounds (the Eventbrite listing names the Center for the Performing Arts). It was free, with organizers expecting 2,000 to 4,000 people, more than 50 vendors, live performances, b-boy and b-girl battles and a pop-up roller rink.
- Faith & Family Freedom Awards Breakfast, Friday, June 19, at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts. Organizers described it as a “gospel-style” service and awards program honoring “Unsung Heroes,” with remarks from elected officials and faith leaders.
The effort was led by Sarah Tyree, president of the Arizona NAACP State Conference; Andre Miller, vice president; and Fallon Jones, youth and college advisor. The fundraising goal was $200,000, with sponsorship tiers from $1,500 to a $50,000 “Freedom Partner” level, to cover the events plus scholarships and youth leadership programs. Organizers described 2026 as the start of an annual tradition.
We could not find post-event coverage of the 2026 festival, so we can’t report how many people came. As of this writing (fall 2026), no 2027 dates have been announced.
The 2025 decision, as the record shows it
The sequence is short and documented. In February 2025 the council voted 5–2 to dissolve the city’s Office of Diversity. KJZZ reported that the item went on the agenda without a work-study session and that dozens of residents spoke against it. Supporters on the council argued it would ensure merit-based hiring. Mayor Lisa Borowsky, who voted with the majority, said in a statement that the city remained committed to equal opportunity and didn’t “require a formal diversity office to do that.”
The practical effects came in a March 7, 2025 memo to all city staff from interim assistant city manager Jeff Walther. As KJZZ summarized it, the city would:
- end its annual Juneteenth celebration;
- stop sponsoring events for groups including the NAACP and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce;
- remove the “Scottsdale for All” diversity initiative from its website and social media;
- disband the voluntary employee resource groups, including those for veterans, Christians, parents and caregivers, Black employees, Hispanic employees and LGBTQ+ employees.
The office’s two employees were not laid off. The director’s position was eliminated and the director was offered another city job, and the employee handling ADA and Title VI compliance moved to another department. A city spokesperson put the annual savings at about $115,000.
The 2026 revival came from a different direction. The NAACP, whose events had just lost their city sponsorship, partnered with the mayor who had voted to close the office, and brought Juneteenth back to the same Civic Center lawn. The Progress described the 2026 effort as potentially “a coordinated, city-backed effort,” but the reporting does not say what, if anything, the city contributed.
What is still unknown
- The holiday itself. Ordinance 4539 amended Scottsdale Revised Code §14-81. None of the 2025 reporting says the paid holiday was repealed, but none says it was kept. The city’s online code, or the HR holiday calendar for the current year, will answer it.
- The 2020 Eldorado Park event. The city’s anniversary booklet is the only source we found for it. A city press release, a Progress or Independent story from June 2020, or Parks & Recreation’s event records would confirm who organized it and what took place.
- The 2022 venue and the 2024 edition. The council report, the city’s 2022 photo caption and the missing 2024 coverage leave gaps that the city’s June Days programs and Scottsdale Arts’ event archives could fill.
- Attendance. No city figures for 2022–2024, and no post-event count for 2026.
Where it fits
Scottsdale’s other diversity-linked anniversaries have taken different paths. The January MLK Jr. Celebration is run by an independent nonprofit, Community Celebrating Diversity, and held its 32nd edition in January 2026. Juneteenth was a city event, which is why the city could end it with a memo and why it now depends on a community organization’s fundraising. For the rest of June, see June Days. For how to survive a June evening outdoors, see our notes on Scottsdale’s heat milestones.