After last year's socially-distanced "caravan parade," participants and attendees of the sixth-annual Athens MLK Parade and Music Festival will recognize the 2022 event as a return to the celebration they'd grown accustomed to before the COVID-19 pandemic required more cautious, scaled-down proceedings.
The parade will line up on Washington Street on Monday for a 3 p.m. start on Hull Street outside the Morton Theatre. From there, it will move on from Clayton Street to Jackson and Washington streets, then enter the festival area at Washington and Lumpkin. Kids' activities and amusements will be located on Hull Street while other festival events will take place indoors.
The Manhattan Cafe will host the African American elders and pioneers of Athens honoree ceremony at 4 p.m.; the Clarke Central Ensemble, Dynamic Dancing Dawgs and the Teen Social Justice Club will be at Little King's Shuffle Club at 4:15 p.m.; and a local hip-hop showcase featuring 13 Athens artists is scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. at The World Famous.
Beginning at 4:30 p.m., the outdoor stage at Washington and Lumpkin streets will feature live bands and guest speakers.
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The first MLK Parade and Music Festival took place in 2017 on the one-year anniversary of protests in Athens the previous January when an estimated 400 people took to the streets in opposition to reported discriminatory practices at downtown bars.
As a result, Mokah-Jasmine Johnson co-founded the Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement with her husband, Knowa, serving as director, and the two co-founded the MLK Parade as a way of commemorating the protest in a way that would bring people together downtown for peaceful celebration.
"It's very gratifying to see diversity in downtown Athens, because there aren't a lot of events throughout the year where that happens," Knowa told the Banner-Herald. "We're keeping with the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by focusing on our similarities instead of our differences."
To register as a participant or vendor for the sixth-annual MLK Parade, visit athmlkparade.com. The last day for sign-ups is Saturday.