The 30th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration will be held in Jefferson County next week, and organizers are hoping for better weather and a good-sized crowd to turn out.
The 2025 event is set for Sunday, Jan. 19, starting at 2 p.m. with a march from Buren Chapel A.M.E. Church, 321 S. Adams St., in Festus to Mount Olive Baptist Church, 136 Lincoln Ave., in Crystal City. Following the march, a program will be held at the Crystal City church.
There is no fee to participate in the march or to attend the program.
Denise Brown of the G.S.B.T.T.C. (Giving Something Back to the Community) organization, which sponsors the event, said she wants the general public to know all are welcome.
“We’re hoping for more people, weather permitting,” she said. “We’d love to have a lot of people come out.
“It’s not just for Black people, like some may think. It’s a time for the community to come together.”
Brown noted that frigid temperatures, like those that occurred for the 2024 Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration, can affect attendance. About 40 people took part in the event last year, she said.
Brown said the 2025 march hearkens back to when the first Martin Luther King Jr. Day march in the Twin Cities took place years ago.
“Part of the march goes along Festus Main Street and Bailey Road in Crystal City, and it crosses Truman Boulevard (Hwy. 61-67),” Brown said. “This is like a memorial to the first march we had, with the same route from Buren Chapel to Mount Olive. The march takes about 25 minutes.”
She said she did not have specifics for program, but the speakers always give a good presentation.
“Our guest speaker is Vanessa Davis, who is a nurse from St. Louis,” Brown said. “I don’t yet know her topic, but our theme for the celebration this year is ‘We can look back, but we can’t stay back.’”
For more information, call 636-937-0575.