(Seguin) — The Seguin MLK Day Planning Committee is once again inviting the community to its multi celebration of an American hero.
Committee President Regina Lee says they are thrilled with this year’s lineup in honor of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lee says the celebration begins on Thursday with a religious service at 7 p.m. Thursday at New St. James Baptist Church. She says the festivities will continue on Friday, Sunday and Monday at locations throughout Seguin.
“We’re going to start on Thursday (January) 12. We’re going to start at New St. James (Baptist Church), and we’re going to start at 7:00 p.m. We are supporting the Baptist Ministers Union with their program. Then we’re going to go to Friday night at Seguin High School, the PAC Center. It’s going to be a Choir Showcase. We are again skipping Saturday. We used to do the Taste of Soul (and dinner theater), but we are again going to put that on the back burner. We’re going to continue on Sunday the 15th. We’re going to go out to New Life Fellowship Church, south of town on (State Highway) 123. We’re going to start early. We’re going to start at 3 p.m. Sunday (with a Gospel Fest). And then we’re going to do our Symbolic March on (Monday), January 16,” said Lee.
Lee says they thought it was important to start this year’s celebration with a relgious service. She says the church was such a big part of Dr. King’s life and really stood at the heart of the civil rights movement. She says that’s why they were so thrilled that the Baptist Ministers Union moved its traditional MLK Day night time service to earlier in the week. She says the committee hopes this will allow more people to attend the event, while also setting the tone for the rest of the activities planned for this week.
“Monday night people are so tired and we want to remember that Dr. King was truly a minister. We want to support them in their endeavor of keeping that dream alive. And so, we suggested and asked (the Ministers Union if they would change dates), and said we will physically support them. We would support them either way, but it’s hard to support somebody on Monday night, when you’ve marched and you’ve been busy over the last several days. They were very open to that idea, and so we really want to encourage the community to come out to that,” said Lee.
Thursday night’s church service, Friday’s Seguin ISD talent showcase and Sunday’s Gospel Fest are all a warmup to the events that the group has planned for Monday’s federal MLK Day holiday. Lee says they will again host the annual Freedom March, and then end with a big program in Central Park.
“We are going to start at (Texas Lutheran University’s) Wupperman Theatre. We’re going to start outside of the theater. We’re going to gather there at 10 a.m. (Monday), and start marching down Court Street and end downtown at Central, where we will proceed with our program. We have a great speaker, which we have a great speakers every year, but we have our own Jeremy Roy this year and I guarantee if you come out, you will feel like you’ve really done something this weekend. If you come out to any one of the events, I think you’ll get the whole flavor,” said Lee.
All of this year’s MLK Day activities are free of charge. Lee says they just hope that everyone will take a moment to honor Dr. King and his contributions to this nation. You can find a full list of MLK events on our website, seguintoday.com.