YAKIMA, Wash. -- Organizers of Yakima’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day are preparing for a downtown march and several related events.
The theme for the day is “Follow the dream: One nation, One people, One community.
Robert Trimble, a member of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Committee, which organizes the event, said King’s fight for equality remains alive.
“We give honor to him and to all those who embrace the dream of Martin Luther King Jr.,” said Trimble, who also is president of the Yakima chapter of the NAACP.
Trimble said King did not intend his goals to apply only to African-Americans.
“It was a dream for all citizens, every person to enjoy the freedoms of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution,” he said.
The weekend opens with a basketball tournament at 5 p.m. Jan. 13 and continues at
10 a.m. Jan. 14 at the OIC gym, 1001 S. Ninth Ave.
A worship service will be at 3 p.m. Jan. 15 at Breakthrough Church, 1220 Business Parkway in Union Gap.
On Jan. 16, the designated holiday, participants in the peace walk will gather at 11:30 a.m. at MLK Jr. Boulevard and Fifth Avenue.
The march will start at noon and proceed to the Yakima Convention Center, 10 N. Eighth St.
Streets will be closed along the route between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.
The parade will follow MLK Jr. Boulevard to Eighth Street and then turn down Eighth Street to Yakima Avenue, ending at the convention center.
A speech by Steve Mitchell, executive director of the Yakima-based Opportunities Industrialization Center of Washington, will be part of a program starting at 1 p.m. at the convention center.
The program, expected to last about an hour, will include presentation of the MLK Jr. Service Award, intended to honor people who have supported King’s dream of equality in Yakima, and recognition of the winner of the annual Lee Paggett food drive within the Yakima School District.
Paggett was the longtime Yakima Valley Community College recreation coordinator, youth mentor and community activist who died unexpectedly in November 2003.
Events conclude with a soup kitchen open to the public from 2:30 to 4 p.m. at the Henry Beauchamp Community Center, 1211 S. Seventh St.
More information is available by calling 509-248-6751.
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