Longview holds Martin Luther King, Jr. parade

LONGVIEW, Texas (KLTV) - The City of Longview made some pretty big plans for MLK weekend, starting with a Friday night concert and a Saturday morning parade. This year, the city lent a hand in organizing the events.

Longview Spokesman Richard Yeakley acted as MC and said the city has been working on the Martin Luther King, Jr., weekend for quite some time.

“We have a planning committee that started meeting in August of last year to work on the parade and also work on the community festival and the march and everything that’s going into this weekend,” Yeakley said.

They put effort into organizing and based the parade on their Christmas parade, with a bleacher setup and MC.

“It’s a large event. This is the type of thing the city does, so there’s a great network of community supporters to help plan it, and then we came along to make sure it’s the best weekend possible to remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,” Yeakley said.

And, that’s why Kemy Daniels attended.

“Martin Luther King, I didn’t meet him in my lifetime, but his legacy lives on, and I think it’s still important today,” Daniels said.

There is also another reason she’s watching the parade: Gabrielle Daniels.

“My daughter is in the Junior ROTC, so she was excited about having to march in the parade today,” Daniels said.

Gabrielle knows who the celebration is about.

“He was a civil rights activist. He was just a great man,” Gabrielle said.

Monday’s MLK March begins at Broughton Recreation Center at 11 a.m., and they are taking part.

“I’ve seen it every year, but my work has prevented it. But, this year I’m off, so I’m going this year,” Kemy said.

As far as the entire celebration weekend, the city is looking for feedback.

“[At] Longviewtexas.gov/mlk there’s an input form, and the reason that’s there is if there is something that you want to see as a part of future celebrations. We want to hear that,” Yeakley said.

The celebration has grown, and they’d like to see it grow even more.

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