Juneteenth, the day that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved Black people passed on Monday with little fanfare in Haines.

The holiday has been increasingly celebrated around the country and in 2021, President Biden signed a bill to make it a federal holiday. Mayor Doug Olerud made no official statement about the holiday and borough employees worked through the day.

Juneteenth will be a borough holiday “only if they take assembly action and come to a CBA agreement with the union,” Olerud said.

Less than 1 percent of Haines’ population is Black, according to the most recent U.S. Census report from 2020.

Desmond Martin, who moved to Haines two years ago and is Black, has never celebrated Juneteenth before.

“I wouldn’t say you shouldn’t celebrate it. It’s a meaningful moment for people,” he said.

Martin is no stranger to living in majority-white towns. He grew up in Boiling Springs, North Carolina which is 78 percent white.

“There was a lot more racism there,” he said. “[Haines] is actually really nice, people are accepting.”

Brooklyn Dewitt, age 16, grew up in Haines and said that her experience being Black in Haines was “pretty hard.” “School was pretty hard, I felt like I was being bullied all the time,” she said.

Dewitt, who now lives in Sitka, said of the greater Haines community that “there’s been times when it’s been supportive and not. Most of it has been pretty supportive.”

While she has also never celebrated Juneteenth before, she thinks it would be a good idea for Haines to celebrate the holiday.

“Black people might feel more like they are part of the community,” she said.

More than half of all states now officially recognize the holiday, which is considered a second Independence Day by many Black Americans. During Alaska’s legislative session this year, Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson, D-Anchorage, introduced a bill in the Alaska legislature that would make Juneteenth a state holiday. The bill passed the Senate 16-4, but didn’t get voted on in the House.

The only other federal holiday not observed by the Borough is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. According to Olerud, the borough decided not to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day because of CBA negotiations.