Palatka, Crescent City celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day
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People honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday by participating in a legacy walk along St. Johns Avenue in Palatka. -
people dancing for Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, where people celebrated at the Palatka riverfront. -
Crescent City residents and leaders march down Summit Street in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. -
Members of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. walk down St. Johns Avenue for Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday. -
Crescent City residents gather at Eva Lyon Park to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday. -
Local musician Buffalo Munn plays the trumpet during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Festival at the Palatka riverfront. -
Despite the downtown Palatka roadwork, marchers still make their way down St. Johns Avenue to honor Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday. -
Positively Putnam FL
The chilly Monday morning weather did not keep people off the streets to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Though the number of attendees was small, people could hear the sounds of a saxophone and trumpet for multiple blocks in Palatka. Local musicians like Stephen Chandler and Buffalo Munn kept celebrations of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. alive after people participated in a legacy walk down St. Johns Avenue to honor King’s legacy.
Cynthia Asia, a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc., attended the Palatka events Monday with some of her sorority sisters as a way to serve the community. Asia said service is one of Zeta Phi Beta’s four principles.
“Dr. King, he believed in service, and this particular holiday is actually to remind people about service,” Asia said. “As an African-American and one of the first African-Americans to have a holiday in (his) name, we feel that we need to be a part of that.”
America has recognized the third Monday in January as Martin Luther King Jr. Day for only about 40 years, according to the National Constitution Center. President Ronald Reagan signed the bill in 1983 to declare it a holiday, the center states, but it was only first celebrated in 1986 nationwide.
“Today, the King holiday serves multiple purposes,” according to a Constitution Center article on Monday. “It honors the total legacy of King; focuses on the issue of civil rights; highlights the use of nonviolence to promote change; and calls people into public service.”
The holiday is observed on the third Monday to coincide with King’s birthday, Jan. 15, 1929.
Palatka City Commissioner Justin Campbell, who helped organize the event as part of the African-American Cultural Arts Council of Putnam County, said the Palatka festivities were held to carry out one of King’s biggest dreams: unity.
“Even though we’re small in numbers,” Campbell said about Monday’s attendance, “it’s still the continuation. We’re still trying to make sure that something does happen.”
Crescent City also honored King’s memory with a march down Summit Street to Eva Lyon Park organized by The Concerned Citizens of South Putnam.
Local leaders finished the holiday with words from people like city Mayor Michele Myers, Commissioner Lisa DeVitto and County Commission Chairman Bill Pickens, whose district encompasses South Putnam. City Commissioner and Pastor Harry Banks led the gathered community in prayer at the park and others sang to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The message in Crescent City was clear that when the community stands together with love and kindness in their hearts for one another, everyone is better, Myers said.
“Personally, I love to hear the reflections that are shared about the impact Dr. King had on lives,” she said in a statement. “It is important that these reflections are passed on to our youth so they will always be reminded that all of our lives are richer because of a man that had a dream for all men, regardless of their race, to stand together.”