Martin Luther King Jr. parade participants brave the cold
by January 17, 2011 5:04 pm 72 views
photos by Ruby Dean
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With temperatures at almost freezing, hundreds of citizens from the Fort Smith area bundled up and came out in support of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. holiday parade.
Participants included Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders, a parade queen and Northside and Southside high school bands. Participants in the parade threw candy to the crowd with children and adults collecting the sweet loot.
It was the first parade for Mayor Sanders, who took office Jan. 1 after defeating in November longtime Mayor Ray Baker.
The parade was much shorter than the 2010 parade, and lasted about 30 minutes. The cold weather and it being a non-election year resulted in fewer participants and onlookers. In 2010, Gov. Mike Beebe and many other candidates were in Fort Smith for the parade.
Also, the 2010 parade included an observance day breakfast at the Fort Smith Convention Center.
U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, sent a statement to the media about the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday: “Dr. King got it right. It’s about ‘content of character.’ He embodied the very essence of what it means to be an American. He was a dreamer and a visionary who believed in freedom and opportunity for every man, woman and child regardless of their ‘race, color or creed’. Nearly 50 years ago, one man had a dream. Today as we celebrate his birthday, let us all commit ourselves to the continuing march towards equality."
