Juneteenth Celebrated Today; Government Offices Closesd

Today, June 19, is Federally, and locally, recognized as Juneteenth, a holiday that commemorates the day when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas in 1865 with 2,000 Union troops to proclaim that more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in the state were free – two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863.

Juneteenth,  also known as Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, and Jubilee Day, offers the opportunity to commemorate the end of slavery, and has been celebrated as a federally-recognized holiday since 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law.

Juneteenth is the first federal holiday established since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.

Toccoa City Hall will be closed today in observance of Juneteenth. Garbage  and Recycle Routes scheduled to be picked up on today will be picked up on tomorrow, June 20 . Commercial garbage will be picked up as usual, but yard waste and other items will not be collected. The Toccoa Police and Fire Departments will be on duty. Utility department employees, as well as employees from the Public Works Department, will be on call for emergency situations. The Links at Lake Toccoa will operate as normal. 

Call Toccoa City Hall at (706) 886-8451 for more information

In honor of Juneteenth, all non-essential Stephens County government offices and departments will be closed today, as will all Stephens County School System Offices. The Stephens County Health Department and Environmental Health Office will be closed today.

All nonessential federal government buildings and offices will be closed Monday, including all post offices, which will be closed for retail transactions and there will be no regular residential or business mail deliveries, and some local private businesses such as banks may also be closed today in honor of the holiday.