COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Columbus Juneteenth Festival will go on this weekend with enhanced security at a gated park after a shooting disrupted last year’s event and threw its future into doubt.
The 24th annual Juneteenth Ohio Freedom Festival to celebrate the end of slavery has been moved to Genoa Park, a gated park on the Scioto Riverfront, and attendees will be searched when they enter this year.
Last year, Columbus police shut down the Juneteenth celebration a day early after a 15-year-old boy fired a gun during a confrontation. An 11-year-old boy was struck in the leg.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that the city then refused to issue the festival a 2014 permit until it paid leftover costs from last year’s event. Organizers sued the city for canceling it.
The balance was eventually paid.