Organizers are seeking participants for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration coming to Jefferson County on Sunday, Jan. 14.
The G.S.B.T.T.C. (Giving Something Back To The Community) group sponsors the local celebration, which includes a march followed by a presentation. No fee is charged to participate in either activity.
The march is set for 2 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Festus-Crystal City, 107 N. Truman Blvd., in Crystal City, and will proceed to Crystal City High School, 1100 Mississippi Ave. The presentation will be held in the school’s auditorium.
Author Dewhitt Bingham, Bloomington, Ill., will be the guest speaker at the presentation. Bingham, a 1980 Festus High School graduate, wrote the book “The Douglass Connection,” about Douglass Cooperative High School, a school that enrolled Black students during segregation. It served students from Festus, Crystal City Crystal City, Herculaneum, De Soto, Bonne Terre, Farmington, Potosi, Fredericktown, Ironton, St. Mary and Ste. Genevieve.
Denise Brown of G.S.B.T.T.C. said anyone may participate in the event honoring the civil rights leader.
“It’s mainly for the Twin Cities, but it’s for anyone,” she said. “The normal participation is between 50 and 60. It all depends on the weather.”
She said the 2023 version drew about 50 people, likely because of frigid temperatures that day.
Brown said the march typically takes about 25 minutes.
“This marks our 29th march,” she said. “We just hope everyone comes out to celebrate with us. We say (the holiday) is not a day off, but a day on. That means we hope to grow and reach others.
“It’s to memorialize what (King) stood for and to get the community to come together as a whole.”
For more information, visit the Giving Something Back To The Community page on Facebook.