Events organized to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day and honor the civil rights leader
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Jan. 13—Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and local celebrations to honor King's legacy of service and sacrifice are scheduled to begin Saturday and continue into Monday.
During his lifetime, King enjoined his followers to "learn to live together as brothers or perish as fools."
Each of the planned events is designed to accomplish exactly that, to bring together the diverse and quilted cross-sections of the Bakersfield community as brothers, sisters and friends.
Beginning Saturday — perfect timing for those who may not have Monday off — Community Action Partnership of Kern is participating in the "Celebration of a King" event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Belle Terrace Park, 1101 E. Belle Terrace, not far from the CAPK Food Bank, Friendship House Community Center, and Pete Parra Head Start Center.
Also involved in Saturday's event are host organizations such as the Bakersfield City School District and Stay Focused Ministries.
The celebration will feature Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary, resource vendors, food, the Dat Krew Dancers, prizes, free teddy bears for kids and more.
Observances of the King holiday will continue early Monday with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Community Awards Breakfast Celebration, slated from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the MLK Community Center, 1000 S. Owens St. in east Bakersfield.
"We have been doing this event for 20-plus years," said one of the organizers, the Rev. Wesley Crawford Sr., of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Kern County Inc.
As of Friday evening, nearly 500 attendees had RSVP'd, Crawford said.
The morning will begin with keynote speaker Bishop Broderick A. Huggins, who has served as senior pastor of the St. James Missionary Baptist Church in Wichita, Kan., since 2018.
In April, he established a "Saturday" church named Simply Church House of Prayer in Port Hueneme on the Central Coast of California, but all of this comes after earning several degrees, including a doctorate in theology from Sacramento Theological Seminary, and 39 years of pastoral leadership, evangelism and education.
Several local movers and shakers are slated to receive awards at the breakfast, Crawford said.
They include Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield; Mukul Anand, a senior at Stockdale High School; Traco Matthews, chief program officer at Community Action Partnership of Kern; Heather Kimmel, assistant executive director at the Housing Authority of the County of Kern; Jessica Grimes, dean of economic and workforce development for the Kern Community College District; and more.
A third event, a multifaceted celebration, includes the annual Martin Luther King Jr. march — and much more.
According to a small flyer, the event begins at 2 p.m. Monday at St. Peter Restoration Community Christian Ministries, 510 E. Brundage Lane in southeast Bakersfield.
The march is scheduled for 3:30 p.m., and the MLK program and youth awards begins at 5:30 p.m.
Reporter Steven Mayer can be reached at 661-395-7353. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter: @semayerTBC.
