TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Cultural Arts Festival Marks Courage To Live The Dream

FILE PHOTO 2002 (staff/KAthy Moore-Lengell)

Wearing her Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. t-shirt. Willie B. Boyd, watches the Durant High School marching band pass by during the Dr. Martin Luther King parade held in Plant City on Saturday

ADVERTISEMENT

By GEORGE H. NEWMAN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 16, 2008

PLANT CITY - The life and dream of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. will be celebrated Friday through Sunday at an annual festival held in his honor.

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Cultural Arts Festival will include a black history photo exhibit, high school step competition, parade, health screenings and other activities. Promoters said the festival will promote diversity and educate the public on historical events.

Many of the festivities, including a carnival midway, will be at the Randy L. Larson Softball Four-Plex, 1810 E. Park Road, north of Plant City Stadium.

Sponsored in part and presented by the Improvement League of Plant City, the celebration dates to 1986, when league President Jerry Bailey coordinated the event. Bailey died in 1994, but his widow, Cynthia Bailey, recalled that one of the first parades honored the famous bus protest by Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Ala.

"As I remember it, even back in 1986 we had one of the largest parades celebrating the memory of Dr. King in the state," Bailey said.

The 2008 theme is Courage to Live the Dream.

Courage has always been a part of the celebration of King, Bailey said.

Many historians date the flashpoint of the modern civil rights movement in the United States to Dec. 1, 1955, when Parks, at the time an unknown seamstress, refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. Parks was arrested and fined for violating a city ordinance, but her act of defiance helped propel King, then a local minister, to national prominence when he led the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott. That effort fueled the movement to end legal segregation in America.

During one of the earliest King parades in Plant City, Bailey's grandmother Annie Mae Davis helped with a re-enactment of Parks' protest. The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority lent a bus, and her grandmother sat up front just like Parks, Bailey said.

By the time the bus made it to the city's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center, 1601 E. Dr. Martin L. King Jr. Blvd., it was overflowing with people who had been walking the parade route, Bailey said.

Some of this year's festival highlights include the opening ceremony and a historical photo display at 11:30 a.m. Friday at the recreation center.

Photos of black history in the city and surrounding communities from 1930 through 1960 will be provided by Plant City Photo Archives. Additional photos of that era are on display at the archives' gallery, 119 N. Collins St.

Other activities include a step competition at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Marshall Middle School Gymnasium, 18 S. Maryland Ave., and the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Parade at 1 p.m. Saturday. The parade, sponsored by Sunshine State Federal Savings & Loan Association, will assemble at the State Farmers' Market at Alexander Street and Dr. Martin L. King Boulevard. Bands, civic groups, churches and other organizations will march 1.2 miles east on the boulevard to Marshall Middle School area.

One of the 30 or more groups marching in the parade will be the West Boys & Girls Club, directed and led by Sharon Moody.

"I'm looking forward to seeing how the parade and the festival are presented by the organizers and attended by the community," Moody said. "I urge all the residents of Plant City to take some time during the three days to participate in the activities. We should all take part in this celebration of freedom."

Julius DuPont, former president and longtime board member of the Improvement League, said the parade and festival are an important part of Plant City.

"We want the youth to realize that whether you are white, black or Hispanic, you can accomplish great things in your life. Just by getting involved in positive things within the community will lead to a successful life," said DuPont, who is a retired elementary school physical education teacher.

Also on Saturday, hip-hop artist Miss Netta will perform at 2:30 p.m. at the four-plex. Also appearing are Pezzy P, Dirty Game and guests from Tampa radio station WLLD, 98.7 FM.

Parking, off Albertson's Drive, west of Park Road, is free.

The midway hours are from 6 p.m. to midnight Friday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday.

On Sunday, the Plant City Dr. Martin Luther King Leadership Breakfast is scheduled from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the Red Rose Inn and Suites' Red Rose Ballroom, 2011 N. Wheeler St. The breakfast's guest speaker is former mayor and city Commissioner John Dicks. George Nix will be the master of ceremonies. Admission for the breakfast event is $25.

IF YOU GO

Here's the schedule for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Cultural Arts Festival.

FRIDAY

11:30 a.m.: Opening ceremony and historical photo display, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center, 1601 E. Dr. Martin L. King Jr. Blvd.

12:30 p.m. Senior citizens luncheon, recreation center

6:30 p.m.: Statewide high school step competition, Marshall Middle School gymnasium, 18 S. Maryland Ave. Admission is $10.

6 p.m. to midnight: Midway open, Randy L. Larson Softball Four-Plex, 1810 E. Park Road

SATURDAY

10 a.m. to 11 p.m.: Midway open, four-plex

1 p.m.: Parade along Dr. Martin L. King Jr. Boulevard from near Alexander Street to the middle school

2:30 to 10 p.m.: Various artists and Busch Garden Sheiks perform, four-plex

SUNDAY

7:30 to 9 a.m.: Leadership breakfast, Red Rose Inn and Suites' Red Rose Ballroom, 2011 N. Wheeler St. Tickets are $25.

Noon to 9 p.m.: Midway open, four-plex

Discount tickets for the midway are available at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center; Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce, 106 Evers St.; the historical Glover School administration office, 5104 Horton Road, south of Bealsville; or by calling (813) 737-1352. For information, go to www.plantcitymlkfestival .com.

Reporter George H. Newman can be reached at (813) 865-4451 or gnewman@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT