Indy Juneteenth Parade Canceled, Festival Planned Instead

INDIANAPOLIS, IN—Indy Juneteenth organizers announced the cancellation of this year’s parade after failing to secure a location for the event. However, James Webb, co-founder and executive director of Indy Juneteenth, said the organization will still celebrate Juneteenth this year with a festival.

On April 25, the organization revealed plans to hold next year’s Juneteenth parade at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. This decision was influenced by a new partnership between the two organizations. Webb expressed optimism about the future despite the disappointment of canceling this year’s parade.

“Even though we won’t have the parade this year, I’m still excited for the future,” Webb said. “I just love being able to see the children celebrate unity and see all the cultures around Indiana celebrating their God-given right of freedom.”

The cancellation followed months of negotiations with the city to find a suitable location. Webb noted that typically, preparations for the event are completed by November or December. “To try to put something together in a month and a half that we would normally take six months to do just wasn’t realistic,” he said.

According to Webb, the organization filed a request for a special event permit last August, outlining a parade route along Indiana Avenue, similar to last year’s event. Although the city acknowledged the request in October 2024, there was little progress until a new route proposal was put forth at the start of 2025.

In hopes of accelerating the permit process, organizers collaborated with the Mass Ave organization to propose the new route. However, they soon discovered the proposed dates coincided with permits already issued for other events, as confirmed by Dawn Olsen, a communications officer for the city.

“Unfortunately, the locations and the timing they requested coincided with special event permits that had already been issued,” Olsen explained via email.

After learning the Massachusetts Avenue route was unavailable, Indy Juneteenth inquired about returning to Indiana Avenue, only to be informed that another event had already been scheduled for the same dates. The city said the parade could proceed along Indiana Avenue, but it would require approvals from additional organizations.

Faced with time constraints, Indy Juneteenth leadership acknowledged they could not adequately organize the event and opted to cancel the parade. Instead, they plan to hold a festival at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on June 21 from noon to 7 p.m.

“We understand the heartbreak that comes with making that decision,” Olsen said. “Thousands attended Juneteenth last year. There were a lot of outside and existing factors that affected the viability of this year’s parade.”

Webb remains positive despite the setbacks. “The beauty of this situation is that we created a great relationship with the Indiana State Fairgrounds, and we’re already in talks to have a parade and festival in 2026,” he said.

The festival will feature performers originally scheduled for the parade, along with a wellness circle, sip and paint event, over 30 food vendors, and more than 100 small business vendors. “You’ll get the chance to see live performances, and we will be giving out awards. It’ll still be a fun family event,” Webb added.

In addition to the festival, Indy Juneteenth will host several events throughout June 2025. On June 7, they’ll hold a job and life skills workshop for students at The Basile Theatre at the Historic Athenaeum. On June 12, a business engagement event will take place at 40 East St. Clair St. And on June 14, there will be USA Boxing-sanctioned matches at the Speedway Events Center.

Finally, on June 19, a public event will be held at Sarkine Park in Avon. The celebration of Juneteenth is set to continue in various forms throughout the month.