Orlando Brown, Jr. returns for Juneteenth Jubilee

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 16, 2025
MEDIA CONTACT: Cody Hefner (513) 608-5777, chefner@nurfc.org

Orlando Brown, Jr. returns as featured guest for Freedom Center's Juneteenth Jubilee

Live music, food trucks, community market and more June 19; free admission all day

CINCINNATI – Orlando Brown, Jr. is again joining theNational Underground Railroad Freedom Center’s Juneteenth Jubilee. The Cincinnati Bengal will be the event’s featured guest as the Freedom Center turns Freedom Way into a street festival with live music, DJ, a market of community vendors and food trucks. The Juneteenth Jubilee takes place June 19 and is free.

Health equity is a passion for Orlando Brown, Jr., a Super Bowl champion on the field and an advocate for equity off the field. He is involved in efforts to raise awareness and funds to support type 1 diabetes research in honor of those impacted, including his late father, his younger brother and his friends and fellow NFL players Mark Andrews and Noah Gray. Brown will participate in a youth empowerment summit inside the Harriet Tubman Theater and will also host a photo and autograph session during the day.

In addition to the outdoor activities, you can enjoy story times, children’s activities, exhibit activations and health, nutrition and financial wellness workshops. Admission to the museum is free for Juneteenth and includes two new exhibits: In This Place, the first new permanent exhibit in 15 years, and Faith & (in)Justice, a traveling exhibition developed by the Freedom Center.

As part of the day’s wellness events, Breakthrough T1D will offer free diabetes testing and Hoxworth Blood Center’s mobile unit will be onsite for blood donors. You can sign up in advance at hoxworth.org/groups/freedom. Medical professionals from TriHealth will offer sessions on healthy eating and nutrition.

The Juneteenth Jubilee stage will feature DJ Vader Mixx and performances by 2nd Wind Band. At the end of the day, Mike Wade & the Nasty Nati Brass Band will lead a symbolic march to the banks of the Ohio River, the symbolic River Jordan over which thousands of enslaved people crossed into freedom on the Underground Railroad.

As the earliest Juneteenth celebrations were community events focused around food, the Freedom Center is also hosting food trucks along Freedom Way: El Cardenal Taqueria, Eliza Jane’s Bakery Truck, Just Jerks, streetpops and Sweets & Meats BBQ.

Community Market vendors include:

• Bella Fiamma
• Cincinnati Cancer Advisors
• Camenbowen Bush
• Clovernook
• Faye’s Keepsake Journals
• The Gaskins Foundation
• Guiding Light Mentoring
• KDB Events and Rentals
• Kitabu Books
• Kreative SOULutions
• OCD NeeOvations Crafting
• Pour Candle Company
• Slay Safe Shop
• Stylish LeNese Boutique
• Succulent Eyez Eyewear
• Zuri Ali Art

Museum admission is also free on Juneteenth, courtesy of the Fifth Third Foundation. Guests can enjoy education workshops, story times and live presentations in the Harriet Tubman Theater. Two new exhibits will also dazzle guests as they tour the museum. In This Place, the Freedom Center’s first new permanent exhibit in 15 years, highlights the Freedom Center’s power of place, tracing the footsteps of the early freedom seekers who crossed the Ohio River to freedom in the 19th century, through the city’s impact on and participation in the Civil Rights Movement, the fight for marriage equality, Black Lives Matter and more. Faith & (in)Justice, a traveling exhibition developed by the Freedom Center, examines the intersection of religion and social justice in American history, breaking down barriers and opening dialogue.

Juneteenth Jubilee performance and programming updates can be found at freedomcenter.org/Juneteenth.

History of Juneteenth
On Jun 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger landed at Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War had ended and the enslaved people of the nation were now free. The date, now celebrated as Juneteenth, came more than two-and-a-half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and nearly 250 years after the first enslaved Africans were brought to the Americas. In 2021, President Joe Biden declared Juneteenth a federal holiday.