And thanks to the efforts of the Pleasant Valley Awareness Committee, that milestone will be marked with a public celebration this Saturday in Fort Dodge.

“It’s an important day for a number of different reasons,” said Sherry Washington, one of the event’s organizers. “First and foremost, it’s a celebration of our ancestry.”

Juneteenth is a national holiday commemorating June 19, 1865, which is the day that Union troops entered Galveston, Texas, and declared that all the slaves in that state were at last free. That date is often considered the final end of slavery in the United States, although it took a constitutional amendment ratified later that year to truly eliminate it. It became a federal holiday in 2021.

To honor that day, Sherry Washington and the Pleasant Valley Awareness Committee are hosting a day of activities at Meriwether Park, located at 900 Fifth Ave. S.W. in Pleasant Valley.

The main event will be an adult basketball tournament, organized by Murphy Washington, which begins at 9 a.m. In addition to Fort Dodge teams, Sherry Washington said other teams come from as far as Ames and Chicago.

“This will be the first official tournament on the new basketball court,” she said. “We are celebrating and cementing the new court.”

Last summer, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held, marking the completion of the court. The old basketball courts in the park were essentially ripped out and replaced in a $442,000 job completed by Nels Pederson Co. Inc., of Badger, the general contractor.

A car show will also be held, and a variety of vendors will be available at the park throughout the day.

Though no official time has been set, Washington said a short remembrance will be held during the local celebration as well.

“It’s really a time to come and celebrate the day in remembrance of our history,” she said. “It is a historical day. It’s something to be celebrated, as we stand on the shoulders of our ancestors who paved the way and made this day possible for all.

“We didn’t get here by ourselves,” she added. “That being said, it’s a collective celebration for all.”