Record attendance for 21st MLK March in Taylor

The crowds have gotten larger every year for the parade honoring the work of pioneering civilrights activist the Rev.

Martin Luther King Jr., according to longtime Taylor resident and community leader Shorty Mitchell.

Officials estimate 350 to 400 people attended the 21st Annual Greater Taylor Area Rev. Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

March and Celebration the morning of Jan. 19 in Taylor. Mitchell, the chairman of the memorial event, said attendance hit a new peak.

“Each year, we set a record,” Mitchell said.

“This is my 18th year and I’ve been a chairperson the last 17. It’s grown under my leadership and it’s going to get bigger and bigger.”

The march began at the Dickey-Givens Community Center, 1015 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., and traveled west to South Main Street.

Patrons marched over the Main Street bridge and traveled on North Main until they reached Heritage Park, 400 N.

Main St.

The Rev. Dr. Anthony L. Watson of The First Baptist Church of Taylor served as master of ceremonies.

The event featured Michaela Watson performing “Lift Every Voice and Sing”; acknowledgement of community leaders including Taylor’s first African American mayor, Don Hill, and his wife, Leslie Hill, Jose Orta and Rick Von Pfiel; and performances from the Main Street Elementary School and Taylor High School choirs, The First Baptist Church of Taylor praise team and the high school band and color guard.

“This says a lot about the diversity of the community here,” Mitchell said. “All races and all ages are here. That’s what we had in mind when we started it in 2004.”

King, a Black minister who led a nationwide movement stressing tolerance and nonviolent civil disobedience, was felled by an assassin’s bullet April 4, 1968.

Only a few days after King’s death, Congress passed the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1968. At age 35, King also was the 1964 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.