Martin Luther King Day Celebrations in Covington

Martin Luther King 1964
Martin Luther King 1964

On Monday, January 21st, the City of Covington celebrates the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. beginning with a parade at 10 a.m. and followed by a commemorative service at 11 a.m.  in the Fuhrmann Auditorium.  A family event featuring food, games and friendship will conclude the day’s events at Peter S. Atkins Park.

The parade will begin at Atkins Park (28th and Tyler), turning right on Filmore, then right on 31st.  It will proceed right on Van Buren to 28th Avenue, turning left on Jefferson and ending at 317 N. Jefferson (Fuhrmann Auditorium).  The 11 a.m. service will feature the Greater Covington Community Gospel Choir, and the Reverend Alfred Nathan Young III will be the keynote speaker.  The theme of this year’s event is “We Won’t Go Back (Forward)”, and it is the City of Covington’s 25th annual MLK celebration.  Free and open to the public, all are invited to attend and take part in the activities.

Considered a radical proponent of civil disobedience and the practice of non-violence, King was assassinated in Memphis, TN in 1968.
Considered a radical proponent of civil disobedience and the practice of non-violence, King was assassinated in Memphis, TN in 1968.

Our country’s 57th Presidential Inauguration will also take place on January 21, 2013.  Last year, the website Ancestry.com released research indicating that President Barack Hussein Obama was a descendent of the first documented African slave, John Punch, through the lineage of his Caucasian mother.