Please join Florence Organizes, [City Lights Cinema and the Baha’i Community] for a Martin Luther King Weekend-long Celebration on January 17th and 18th to honor MLKs legacy of building unity and peace.
Before the MLK Celebration Parade on Saturday, January 17th, there will be a gathering for a brief rally at 1st and Nopal St. A Cocoa Brigade (sponsored by Dunes City Indivisible) will be on hand, and Lovejoys is offering $3.00 coffee specialty drinks to keep us warm. Mayor Ward will read a Martin Luther King proclamation and Representative Val Hoyle will join our festivities.
The rally will be followed by a joyful parade with music from Siuslaw Songrise Stringband, vintage cars, local dignitaries and various community organizations. The route starts at 1st and Nopal, then proceeds down Bay St to Veterans Park. Please come to watch or march along! This is a family-friendly event, with flags and kazoos for all. Well-behaved pets on a leash are welcome, too. There is no room for messages of hate in MLK’s vision. If you bring a sign, make sure it is in keeping with King’s vision of unity, justice, equity, love and peace.
On Sunday, January 18th, City Lights Theater and our Baha’i community co-sponsor will host a tribute to Martin Luther King at noon. There will be two inspirational speakers, Russ Pierson, Dean of LCC Florence and Jayden Ruff, Chair of South Coast Health Equity Coalition. Then we have a chance to sing uplifting songs with Mark Levy before watching Selma. This is a 2014 historical drama chronicling Dr. King’s 1965 voting rights campaign in Selma, Alabama, focusing on the struggle for Black Suffrage, the historic marches to Montgomery, and the eventual signing of the Voting Rights Act. Admission is free. The theater is offering a small drink and popcorn for $5. Tickets can be picked up (at City Lights] or purchased online ($1) after January 10th.
[MLK Jr. Day of Service is Monday, January 19th]
This is a time to recommit our community to Dr. King’s dream– a dream bigger than him, bigger than us. His dream belongs to all of us. Come help us celebrate a community collective vision of dignity and belonging.