Photo credit: National Park ServiceCALIFORNIA – This coming Thursday, June 19th, Californians can get free admission to National Park Service (NPS) sites in the state to celebrate the Juneteenth holiday.
Nationwide, NPS offers several admission free days throughout the year to commemorate a significant date to celebrate.
Juneteenth is the one of the oldest known commemorations related to the abolition of slavery in the United States, according to NPS.
Juneteenth National Independence Day was signed into law as a national holiday on June 17, 2021.
It celebrates the date of June 19, 1865, when enslaved people located in Galveston, Texas, finally learned of their freedom from the slavery system in the United States.
Freedom was granted through the Emancipation Proclamation signed on January 1, 1863, by President Abraham Lincoln. Texas was the farthest of the Confederate states, and slaveholders there made no attempt to free the enslaved Black Americans they held in bondage.
This meant that President Lincoln’s proclamation was unenforceable without military intervention, which eventually came nearly 2.5 years later.
National Parks in California
All NPS sites that charge an entrance fee will offer free admission to everyone (other fees, including timed entry or reservation fees, may apply).
Parks in California with free admission for the upcoming holiday are:
For a full list of NPS sites in California visit https://www.nps.gov/state/ca/index.htm
NPS offers free admission days several times a year. These dates for 2025 are:
- January 9: National Day of Mourning for President James Earl Carter Jr.
- January 20: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
- April 19: First day of National Park Week
- June 19: Juneteenth National Independence Day
- August 4: Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act
- September 27: National Public Lands Day
- November 11: Veterans Day
For more information about the National Park Service visit https://www.nps.gov/index.htm
 sites in the state to celebrate the Juneteenth holiday.){kind=link}