Behind the Mic: Norman Harris Discusses Juneteenth
Denver has one of the largest Juneteenth celebrations in the country. This Sunday, June 15, 2025 (also Fathers Day), the Welton Street Corridor will host the festivities, including a parade, vendors and two music stages near Denver’s historic Five Points (27th and Welton). Organizer Norman Harris visited The Morning Set to describe this year’s celebration of freedom.
Details at https://www.juneteenthmusicfestival.com/
Read about how The Drop is co-presenting Denver's 2025 Juneteenth Music Festival here: https://www.thedrop303.org/news/2025-denver-juneteenth-music-festival/
This portion of the interview above has been edited for length and clarity:
NORMAN: It's been an incredible experience kind of carrying the flag for Juneteenth. We've been organizing it since 2012, or kind of took over the organization of it, and I'd say that the city and county of Denver has just been incredibly supportive. It became both a city and state holiday here in Denver before it became a national holiday in the country. So I think that really just speaks to our community's understanding of how important the Juneteenth celebration is and how it just is a part of the cultural fabric of this city.
CARLOS: Norman, we were talking about this off the air: you stepped in on this in 2012, but your whole life is Five Points, from your dad and your grandpa and everybody else, and you and your team have resurrected Juneteenth and are really responsible for it, I mean, because it is a huge event! What'd you have last year, 50,000 people?
NORMAN: Yeah, it was two days, and of course it's changed this time, but yeah, it feels like a countless amount of people. And then you really start to understand when you see that people travel from other parts of the country to come to Juneteenth. And I ran into a few people in the last year like, "Oh no, we came in from Chicago... We came in from Omaha..." So it's just been an honor. I've said that providing service to your community, it builds equity in your community. It gives you a voice. It gives you the ability to continue to influence the things that are happening. And so while a lot has changed in Five Points, we feel like Juneteenth Music Festival has been a cultural anchor. That has been one of the reasons why people come back to the neighborhood and continue to come back.
CARLOS: And (the) music, I mean there's lots of groups.
STEVE: The music starts (with) DJ SugaBear and La Molly from our Sister Station The Drop. (They) are anchoring things there at the beginning at about 12:30, and it runs all the way through (to) your headline, Juvenile.
NORMAN: I can't say (enough) that this year's celebration would not be happening without the support of Rocky Mountain Public Media without the Drop really coming in and stepping up. I think I was telling Tosh before I got in here, the level of visibility that has been created through this partnership is incredible. So I'm sincerely thankful that we're actually doing this, hoping we can continue. And I can positively say that Juneteenth would not look the way it does this year without our partnership. So I'm just supremely and genuinely thankful.
