IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE BLUES - AND IT TOOK ROOT IN AMERICA AND CREATED OTHER MUSIC: URBAN BLUES, JAZZ, GOSPEL, SWING, ROCK AND ROLL, RHYTHM AND BLUES, COUNTRY AND HIP HOP. LORAIN COUNTY METRO PARKS JUNETEENTH BLUESFEST IS A SALUTE TO AMERICA'S MOST ENDURING MUSICAL FORM AND THE PEOPLE AND CULTURE THAT NURTURED IT - FROM ITS ROOTS IN AFRICA TO LORAIN COUNTY.

IN TODAY'S WORLD OF FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE AND TWITTER, IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE A TIME WHEN NEWS WAS DELIVERED IN WEEKS AND NOT SECONDS, BUT THE SLAVES IN GALVESTON, TEXAS DID NOT LEARN OF THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION AND THEIR FREEDOM UNTIL A FULL TWO YEARS AFTER IT WAS SIGNED BY PRESIDENT LINCOLN IN

1863. UPON HEARING THE NEWS, THE NEWLY FREED SLAVES CREATED A CELEBRATION THAT BECAME THE PREMIER HOLIDAY FOR AFRICAN-AMERICANS THROUGHOUT THE SOUTH.

BECAUSE THE EXACT DATE IN JUNE THAT THE NEWS WAS DELIVERED IN GALVESTON WAS AS RELEVANT AS THE EVENT IT MEMORIALIZED, THE DAY WAS SIMPLY KNOWN AS JUNETEENTH.

CELEBRATIONS VARIED FROM STATE TO STATE AND TOWN TO TOWN, BUT THERE WERE ALWAYS PIONICS, CONTESTS, JUBILATION AND MUSIC. JUST AS THE GREAT MIGRATION OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS FROM THE SOUTH TO THE NORTH FACILITATED THE SPREAD OF BLUES MUSIC, THEY ALSO BROUGHT WITH THEM THE SOUTHERN TRADITION OF JUNETEENTH.

- CREDIT TO JEANINE-DONALDSON