HUNTER DWORACZYK [email protected]
Plans for the 19th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day march and program have changed.
The marching portion of the MLK Day celebration has been canceled for Monday, Jan. 15 due to the expectation of frigid conditions, according to chair- person and organizer Shorty Mitchell.
Instead, a program will be held at Taylor City Hall beginning at 10 a.m.
Mitchell said that those attendance should arrive early since there is limited space inside of the City Hall.
The program will involve city leaders and dignitaries, such as elected officials and church leaders, speaking about the importance of the day.
Mitchell, who said he has been the chairperson of the event for 14 years, said he’s made it a point to involve everybody with the celebrations, not just for African American residents.
“Dr. King wasn’t about just Black or African American, he was about unity and everybody coming together,” Mitchell said. “That’s what this is about with us and the city. It’s not a protest, it’s a marching celebration.”
After previously coming from San Antonio, a city which holds some of the largest MLK Day celebrations in the country, Mitchell has seen Taylor’s celebrations grow from only bringing about 30 or 40 people to now having around 250 participants.
“I would just like for us to see more and more people marching,” Mitchell said. “My goal is to have it when the front of the line is turning into Heritage Square, we still have people way back there still back at the very beginning of the overpass. You would be talking about 400 or 500 people.”
Mitchell said he thanks Pastor Anthony Watson and his fellow committee members for the work they’ve done to put the parade together.
