By Dan Klepal
Enquirer staff writer

Ashleigh Butler, 13, gets ready to trace the hand of her cousin, Kight Whiley, 4, for the Hands for Freedom quilt at the Juneteenth celebration Saturday at Eden Park. The quilt will hang at Kennedy Heights Arts Center on Montgomery Road until it is auctioned off, with proceeds going to next year's Juneteenth celebration. The Enquirer/MELISSA HEATHERLY

More than 5,000 people converged on Eden Park Saturday to take part in the oldest known celebration of the end of slavery, called Juneteenth.

The event features food, music, dancing, children's games and more.

Juneteenth is in its 17th year in Cincinnati, but has been celebrated in Texas since 1865 as part of the national observance of African-American Emancipation Day on June 19.

Oneida Palmore, of Avondale, brought her 7-year-old son Malik and her 5-year-old daughter Savannah to the festival Saturday. Palmore said she talked to her children about why they were at the park, getting their faces painted, playing games and dancing to music.

"I let them know this is about freedom and their heritage," Palmore said.

Judy Kellogg, of Clifton, tried to have that same conversation with her 7-year-old granddaughter before the event.

"She still doesn't really know what slavery was," Kellogg said. "But you can't start talking about that too soon."

Lydia Morgan, Cincinnati's Juneteenth coordinator, said she has struggled to raise funds for this year's event.

She has tried unsuccessfully to get help from the city's newest anti-slavery institution, the Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

"We've been trying to get the Freedom Center to join with us, or even take it over," Morgan said.

"I thought it would be a perfect tie-in, but that hasn't happened. Maybe someday they'll see the connection."

Officials with the Freedom Center on Saturday did not return a phone message and e-mail seeking comment.

Juneteenth is a commemoration of African-American freedom, with an emphasis on education and achievement.

The Underground Railroad Freedom Center is a new museum and research center dedicated to ending slavery worldwide.

It is scheduled to open in August.

E-mail dklepal@enquirer.com