A Juneteenth African Festival of Flags car parade Friday evening in Elgin included 54 African nation flags, like the flag of Rwanda here.
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
By the end of the two-hour Juneteenth Festival of Flags parade Friday evening in Elgin, people were running from their residences to take cellphone photos and the length of the parade had doubled.
As Elgin activist Marcus Banner handed out 54 flags, each from an African nation, he encouraged people to "stay in the parade, bring back the flag; don't make me find you."
But they didn't need to be told. Horns honked, colorful flags waved and fists were raised while the 60-car parade doubled as it snaked from O.N.E. Fitness Center on McLean Boulevard on the west side of Elgin and through residential and retail neighborhoods, crossing the Fox River twice before all flags were returned to the starting point.
Juneteenth marks June 19, 1865, when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to enforce freedom for slaves, just over two months after the surrender of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and nearly 2½ years after President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
54 African flags, like the flag of Cape Verde here, were loaned to drivers for a Juneteenth African Festival of Flags car parade Friday evening in Elgin.
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
Elgin Activist Marcus Banner, right, greets supporters and hands out flags at the Juneteenth African Festival of Flags car parade Friday evening in Elgin. Each of the 54 flags represented an African nation.
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
A Juneteenth African Festival of Flags car parade in Elgin Friday evening included 54 African nation flags, including this one of Sao Tome and Principe.
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
Gloria McCarthy of Elgin, whose stage name is Gina East, holds the flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one of 54 flags in the Juneteenth African Festival of Flags car parade Friday evening in Elgin.
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
People gather in a parking lot on McLean Boulevard for a Juneteenth African Festival of Flags car parade Friday evening in Elgin Friday evening. In the center here is the flag of Algeria.
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
A young girl watches as people gather for a Juneteenth African Festival of Flags car parade Friday evening in Elgin.
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
The Juneteenth African Festival of Flags car parade Friday evening passed through Elgin neighborhoods.
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
A Juneteenth African Festival of Flags car parade, with the flag of Egypt at the back of this line, fills Kimball Street from Dundee Road to Route 31 in Elgin Friday evening.
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
A fist rises from a sunroof during a Juneteenth African Festival of Flags car parade Friday evening in Elgin that included 54 African nation flags.
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
A Juneteenth African Festival of Flags car parade fills Kimball Street from Dundee Road to Route 31 in Elgin Friday evening.
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
A Juneteenth African Festival of Flags car parade Friday evening included 54 African nation flags as it wended its way through Elgin neighborhoods.
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com