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Photos: East Austin buzzes with energy and joy during annual Juneteenth parade

KUT 90.5 | By Katya Lemus
Published June 19, 2025 at 3:43 PM CDT
A girl sitting on the hood of a car waves as she moves through a parade.
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Participants in Austin's Juneteenth parade wave to the crowd along Chicon Street.
Michael Minasi / KUT News
Members of The Texas Supremacy of Music & Arts Conservatory summer marching band performs during the parade.
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Members of the Texas Supremacy of Music and Arts Conservatory summer marching band perform during the parade.
Michael Minasi / KUT News
A woman wears a flag in her hair as she watches the city’s annual Juneteenth parade.
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A woman wears a flag in her hair as she watches the city’s annual Juneteenth parade move down Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Leila Saidane / KUT News
Children dive for candy thrown during the Juneteenth parade.
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Children dive for candy thrown during the parade.
Michael Minasi / KUT News
The CapMetro marching band plays at the intersection of MLK Jr. Boulevard and Chicon Street.
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The CapMetro marching band plays at the intersection of MLK Jr. Boulevard and Chicon Street.
Leila Saidane / KUT News
The Austin Fire Department passes a crowd with a man waving a Juneteenth flag riding along.
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An Austin Fire Department truck drives past the crowd along the route.
Leila Saidane / KUT News
The Austin All Star Band dances during the Juneteenth parade.
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The Austin All Star Band performs during the parade.
Michael Minasi / KUT News
The crowd watches the H-E-B float pass by.
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The crowd watches the H-E-B float pass by.
Leila Saidane / KUT News
color guard for Revive the Culture Summer HBCU Band Camp from The Texas Supremacy of Music & Arts Conservatory perform at the intersectios of MLK Jr. Blvd and Chicon Street during the Juneteenth parade.
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The color guard for Revive the Culture Summer HBCU Band Camp from The Texas Supremacy of Music & Arts Conservatory performs during the parade.
Leila Saidane / KUT News
A capitol metro bus moves past people watching the Juneteenth parade.
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A Cap Metro bus is decorated for Juneteenth.
Michael Minasi / KUT News
The University of Texas at Austin football team walks in the Juneteenth parade.
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Members of the UT Austin football team walk in the parade.
Michael Minasi / KUT News
Attendees wave and reach out for candy during a Juneteenth parade.
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Parade attendees wave and reach out for candy.
Michael Minasi / KUT News
A young child waves to attendees from the Heritage Park Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center float during a Juneteenth parade.
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A child waves to the crowd from the Heritage Park Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center float.
Michael Minasi / KUT News

Austin held its 27th annual Juneteenth Celebration on Thursday, marking 160 years since Union troops arrived in Galveston with the news of emancipation.

The Texas heat didn’t stop people from lining the streets with lawn chairs, as children eagerly caught candy from parade participants. The route buzzed with energy and joy from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Rosewood Avenue, as marchers danced, waved and celebrated.

Members of the TSMAC Summer Marching Band perform during the Juneteenth parade.
Michael Minasi
/
KUT News
Members of The Texas Supremacy of Music & Arts Conservatory summer marching band perform during the Juneteenth parade in Austin on Thursday.

Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, but Austinites have been celebrating since 1867. The holiday commemorates the day troops arrived in Galveston to announce all enslaved people in Texas were free — two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.

People in a car hand candy to the crowd at Austin’s 2025 Juneteenth parade.
Leila Saidane
/
KUT News
People in a car hand out candy to the crowd along Chicon Street.
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Katya Lemus
Katya Lemus is a senior journalism major at UT Austin, originally from Las Vegas. She has worked as a projects reporter for The Daily Texan and a voice writer for BurntXOrange magazine on campus. She gravitates toward writing narrative articles that highlight local communities.

You can email her at Klemus@kut.org.
See stories by Katya Lemus
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