TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

A Perfect Day Of Celebration

ADVERTISEMENT

By ELLEN GEDALIUS and STEPHEN THOMPSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 22, 2008

Updated: 01/22/2008 01:11 am

TAMPA - All the ingredients for a parade were there: sunny skies, marching bands in formation, politicians waving from convertibles, antique cars and beads. Always beads.

From Tampa to Pinellas County to Dade City, thousands of people turned out for parades, breakfasts and prayer services honoring the memory of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday was celebrated Monday.

"I absolutely love it, seeing my people come together in harmony," said Debora Wilcher, who lives along the route of the Tampa parade, held for the first time this year on the street named after the slain civil rights leader. "I don't see color, I just see a person, and this is what it's all about."

The events in Tampa started early, with a 6:45 a.m. leadership breakfast at the Hyatt Regency. DeForest Blake Soaries Jr. of Somerset, N.J., was the keynote speaker. He spoke about applying King's leadership style - committed and altruistic - to today's problems.

"It was one of the best speeches I heard," said state Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa. She and Mayor Pam Iorio estimated about 1,000 people attended the breakfast.

The civil rights leader also was celebrated at an awards breakfast at The Coliseum in St. Petersburg.

Parade Route Altered

The 17th annual Tampa/Hillsborough County parade began at noon, with more than 120 units, including marching bands from across the state and one from Jamaica.

Tamara Lavender, a Middleton High School sophomore, played her trumpet along the parade route.

"The parade means a lot to this community," she said. "He would love it, that no matter what color people are, they are having fun and we still have his dream."

City officials moved the parade this year from West Tampa to East Tampa because of construction near the West Tampa parade route. The parade was on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, between 15th and 22nd streets and then up to Osborne Avenue.

After two years of bitter debate, the city in 1989 renamed Buffalo Avenue after King.

Mercedes Morales, owner of a beauty salon on King Boulevard, sat on the porch outside her shop as the parade floats lined up. Having no business Monday was little sacrifice, she said.

"I like it because they're celebrating Martin Luther King and this is the street named for him," Morales said in Spanish. "I am happy there are so many people here."

Frances Brooks, a volunteer for the Martin Luther King Jr. Build The Dream Foundation, served $1 hot dogs to raise money to build a monument to King in Washington, D.C.

A Tampa resident since 1986, she said the parade was more meaningful this year because it was on the street named for the civil rights activist. The parade felt bigger and was more centrally located, she said.

Iorio said the city intends to keep the parade on King Boulevard, though the exact route might change.

With the Florida primary a week away, political activists also hit the parade route. About 25 people, including former Mayor Sandy Freedman, walked behind a Hillary Clinton banner. Several people also held Barack Obama signs.

Demetrious Tolbert handed out Obama signs, stickers and pins.

"We're running around and trying to get his campaign to jump off early here in Florida," Tolbert said.

His 6-year-old son, Damari Gaskin, was at the parade for the first time.

'Something For All Of Us'

"Martin Luther King did something for all of us," said Tolbert, an electrician. "I took off for this today. It's about his future. We've got ours."

A young man atop a parade float recited from memory King's "I Have A Dream" speech into a megaphone. Parade-goers cheered and applauded.

In St. Petersburg, the parade - this year it was called the 23rd annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drum Major for Justice National Parade - was as much a big neighborhood get-together as it was a celebration of the achievements of the slain civil rights leader.

Wearing a T-shirt with King's likeness, Bridget Ross, a 43-year-old cook, watched the parade with her three grandchildren, her son and her daughter. For Ross, it was important for her family to honor King's legacy.

"That's a good thing that he did," Ross said. "He made it possible for we all to be like a whole - everybody together."

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson rode in the parade, as did U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor and a bevy of Pinellas County-based dignitaries. As the parade made a beeline down Central Avenue to the city's picturesque waterfront, the crowd seemed to give louder-than-usual applause to an Obama '08 float.

The marching bands were one of the biggest draws, having traveled to St. Petersburg from as far as North Carolina, Alabama and Louisiana.

Back in Tampa, county African-American Affairs Liaison Joyce Russell was to receive the Robert W. Saunders Award for her work educating blacks on voting procedures.

Reporter Ellen Gedalius can be reached at (813) 259-7679 or egedalius@tampatrib.com. Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT