Danville MLK celebration marks 37th year

Jan. 12—DANVILLE — The Danville community has celebrated the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday for 37 years, and 2023 also marks the 27th year the local MLK Committee will award a scholarship to a local graduating high school senior.

The MLK Committee will host a celebration on Monday with a parade and community-wide service event. "No Retreat: Let Your Light Shine" is this year's theme. The $4,000 MLK scholarship recipient will be announced at the service.

The line-up for the motorcade/parade will begin at 10 a.m. at the corner of Main Street and Logan Avenue, and the procession will start at 10:30 a.m. The motorcade will turn east on Main Street and travel to Vermilion Street, where it will head north. Then it will turn right onto Seminary Street and travel to the corner of Jackson and Seminary streets, where it will make a left onto Jackson Street and travel until it reaches the corner of Jackson and Williams streets. It will pause for a small ceremony at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Monument, then proceed west on Williams Street to Vermilion Street, turn right on Vermilion Street, turn left onto Davis Street and park on the northwest side of St. James United Methodist Church's parking lot.

The community-wide service at St. James United Methodist Church will start at 11:30 a.m. Monday. The Rev. Dr. Jerry Wilson, senior pastor of St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Cahokia Heights, Ill., will serve as the speaker for the service.

This event is open to the public.

In addition, an ensemble of singers, under the direction of MLK Music Director Brett Dupree, will perform at the service.

"Unfortunately, again we're not having the banquet," said Danville Human Relations Administrator Sandra Finch.

Finch said Wilson is from Danville. His wife also will be with him, and she will sing a solo.

"She's a very gifted singer," Finch said.

Danville Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. said the MLK Celebration is a wonderful annual community event.

"We appreciate you and the committee and all the great work that you do to make this a big day in Danville," Williams told Finch at a recent city council meeting.

History of the MLK Jr. Celebration Committee

"The city was invited by the MLK Committee to take on a major role in planning the MLK Celebration in 1991 by the late Rev. Don Ferrill of St. James United Church and the late Rev. Albert Green of Second Baptist Church. The city's input, through the Human Relations Department, was to make the MLK Holiday a community-wide event for the citizens of Danville," according to Finch.

On the first national observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday, Jan. 20, 1986, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Illinois Holiday Council sponsored a community service at Union Missionary Baptist Church. After the first observance of the MLK holiday, the MLK Council continued to sponsor each year a community-wide service on the holiday.

In 1992, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Illinois Holiday Council changed its name to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Committee, and it decided to have monthly meetings for the planning of annual programs. Also, the MLK Committee decided to expand the commemoration of the holiday to a two-day celebration, which included a performance by the Danville Symphony Orchestra on the first day and the MLK Community-Wide Service on the second day.

In 1994, the MLK Committee decided to add to its list of annual programs a summer event called Community Day. Community Day, which occurs every July in Lincoln Park, is a fellowship program of speaking presentations, singing and partaking in favorite summer foods.

In 1997, the MLK Committee established the MLK scholarship for a local high school senior who is planning to pursue a higher level of education after graduation. Therefore, the first day of the celebration was changed to a Scholarship Banquet/Program.

Due to COVID-19, the 2021 scholarship banquet had to be canceled. Also because of COVID-19, the committee made a decision that the banquets for 2022 and 2023 had to be canceled.