The City of Bridgeport held its 30th annual Juneteenth parade on Saturday.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, two months after the Confederacy had surrendered. It was about 2 1/2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in Southern states.

Last year, President Joe Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday. 

This year's parade took place in conjunction with other Juneteenth festivities this week throughout Bridgeport.

"We gathered together so that we can celebrate the Juneteenth Parade and also Peace Week together so that the city can feel the excitement and the joy and the peace and the unity together here in the City of Bridgeport," said Anthony Marshall Thompson, of the group Peace in The Streets.

"It's a state holiday, it's a federal holiday, it's a Bridgeport holiday. God Bless," added attendee Dennis Bradley.