The Edmonds Food Bank will join Lift Every Voice Legacy (LEVL) and the Edmonds Waterfront Center as a partner for the 2025 Juneteenth at the Beach event from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday, June 19 at the Edmonds Waterfront Center.

This year’s celebration — open to all — will feature live performances, a children’s book reading, a screening of the acclaimed film Hidden Figures and free food for attendees. As part of the event’s commitment to community care, there will be a food drive benefiting the Edmonds Food Bank.

“We’re honored to be part of a celebration that brings people together and uplifts the voices and values that make our community stronger,” said Edmonds Food Bank Executive Director Casey Davis. “Partnering with LEVL and Edmonds Waterfront Center for Juneteenth feels like a natural fit for us. LEVL’s Beloved Community vision of building communities free of hatred, injustice, and poverty, along with the Edmonds Waterfront Center’s community of culture and inclusivity, and providing low-cost meals for seniors combating food insecurity, aligns with the food justice work we do every day.”

The Edmonds Waterfront Center kicked off the Juneteenth food drive on June 2, and will be collecting items throughout the day of the event. Community members are encouraged to contribute the food bank’s most-needed items, which include:

-Baking products (oil, flour, sugar)

-Side dishes (mac and cheese, couscous)

-Dry soups (ramen)

-Cereal

-Fruit (canned or dry)

Juneteenth at the Beach invites the entire community to come together in celebration, reflection and shared commitment to justice and belonging.

Juneteenth – also known as Emancipation Day and Freedom Day – is a portmanteau of June 19 and marks the day when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 and informed the last enslaved outpost of African Americans in the Confederate South that they were no longer under bondage.