UPDATE: Due to a forecast of snow, Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Charleston has been canceled.
Original Story:
Marching bands from Charleston High School and North Panola High School in Sardis are scheduled to participate in Charleston’s 17th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade Monday, Jan. 15.
Also set to show up and show out is Satin Diamonds dance troupe from Sardis.
The parade, whose theme is “Living the Dream,” is scheduled to get underway at noon.
Lineup for the parade will begin an hour earlier, at 11 a.m., on South Franklin Street near Family Dollar store.
The procession will turn northeasterly onto Main Street, eventually rounding the south side of the Tallahatchie County Courthouse.
U.S. military veterans will be the parade’s grand marshals.
“Churches, clubs, groups, organizations and anyone else that would like to participate in the parade are welcome,” said Carolyn Johnson, an organizer of the event, sponsored by a local committee.
Entry in the parade is free, and those who take part are asked to display a sign or banner honoring Dr. King.
For information, contact Johnson at 662-647-1346 or Lillie Smith at 662-625-2055.
The Jan. 15 festivities, and similarly styled celebrations across the United States, are a part of the federal holiday begun in 1986 to observe King’s birthday each year on the third Monday of January, which this year falls on his actual birthday..
King, who championed social reform during the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on April 4, 1968. He was 39 years old. The Lorraine is now a part of the National Civil Rights Museum.
