AMHERST — A Juneteenth banner now stretches across South Pleasant Street, marking a milestone for the organizations that have helped make the holiday a fixture in town.

At a ceremony Tuesday on the Town Common, members of the Black Business Association of Amherst Area and Sankofa Gumbo gathered beneath the banner, which promotes Friday’s Juneteenth Jubilee and coincides with the Black Business Association’s 10th anniversary.

“It’s a very important symbol of the town to let the public know something is happening that they should be part of,” Amilcar Shabazz, who founded Sankofa Gumbo with his late wife, Demetria, said at the hourlong banner-raising ceremony. He called getting the banner in place a milestone.

Shabazz said this represents a continuation of when more than 100 people came out in 2016 to dedicate a Black Lives Matter banner at the same spot, becoming one of the first communities in the state to put this message out and getting an endorsement for the movement from the then-police chief.

The banner also serves as a visible reminder of how Juneteenth celebrations in Amherst have grown over the years, those in attendance said.

What began as a family fun day at Groff Park organized by the Cage family in 2010 became one of the town’s first formal Juneteenth observances. Now in its 17th year, Juneteenth Jubilee will take place Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. at St. Brigid’s Church auditorium, 43 North Prospect St., featuring musicians, artists and vendors.

Vira Cage, who helped organize the first Juneteenth event, said it is unusual for Amherst to fly a banner over a street to mark a holiday, making the display especially meaningful. She also referenced an incident over the weekend in which disparaging remarks were made from the White House about former First Lady Michelle Obama, and how this needs to be countered.

“Use your voices to fight for justice,” Cage said.

Monica Cage, her daughter, said the holiday remains important for younger generations.

“History looks like it’s repeating itself. This is not a time to be afraid or helpless,” Cage said.

The Black Business Association was recognized with the reading of a 10th anniversary proclamation by Town Council Vice President Ellisha Walker, who cited the group’s importance in promoting freedom, culture and more inclusion and making Amherst a place welcome for all.

Pat Ononibaku, president of the organization, said she and other Black business owners had felt invisible in town, and been denied COVID relief funds, but appreciates that there are now more collaborations taking place.

Yet outside forces are threatening the community, including from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “ICE is erasing the Black and brown community” Ononibaku said.

“Discrimination contnues, racism continues,” she added.

Another who spoke to the power of the banner was Deborah Snow, coordinator of the Bridge4Unity project who founded Blue Heron restaurant.

“That banner is for all of you,” Snow said. “Getting recognition is painful, it is pain you didn’t deserve.”

Shabazz said Juneteenth reminds people of the past and present struggles, and that Amherst is getting better at acknowledging its role, pointing to the Civil War tablets on which the names of members of the 54th Regiment of the Massachusetts 5th Cavalry from Amherst, who were among those delivering the message of freedom to those in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865. Shabazz credited the work of Debora Bridges, who has overseen the Civil War tablets exhibit, and Anika Lopes, who oversees Ancestral Bridges and organized a Juneteenth ceremony from West Cemetery last weekend.

That Ancestral Bridges Juneteenth Legacy Celebration celebrates the legacy of Black and Afro-Indigenous soldiers from Amherst who served in the Civil War. The event included speeches from members of the town council, reenactments and poetry.

Shabazz is researching and writing and collecting anecdotes about the origins of the celebration, and how Black people would not work on that day but instead celebrate, and how it spread from Texas to Oklahoma and Louisiana before becoming a national holiday.

During the banner raising Vira Cage read a poem written by the late Julius Joe Ford, excerpted from a just published collection by his widow Debora Ferreira, while longtime community member and retired teacher Carlie Tartakov recited a poem by Langston Hughes.