(Seguin) — The community’s salute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. continues with several events planned for this weekend.
Members of the Guadalupe County MLK Committee say Friday night will feature performances by some talented kids from Seguin ISD.
Joe Patterson Sr. says this event focuses on the youth in the Seguin area, and it allows them to share their talents with the rest of the community.
“We struggled trying to figure out how to get young people involved and to get them more involved, because it was almost like the youngsters and the kids — elementary age and junior high and even high school age — were being left behind. And we said, no, we got to fix that,” said Patterson.
Patterson says the Choir Showcase is an MLK weekend event, but he says it has grown beyond that. He says it is now a community favorite that people come back to each year.
“It instills in the kids that this whole thing has a purpose, and they can learn and be taught what this purpose is. And when they put on skits and sing songs about it, they get it. Every year that we’ve had it, at the end of every event, the teachers and the parents are saying, we can’t wait until next year (and) we’re going to do this again. We look forward to it, and the kids look forward to it. They love coming and being on stage. So, it’s really been beneficial to us. And it’s the number one largest gathering for our events. We get 300 to 400 people easily into the auditorium,” said Patterson.
Friday’s free Choir Showcase begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center at Seguin High School.
Saturday’s schedule includes the annual MLK Banquet and Dinner Theater. It’s the only paid event during the weekend. It begins at 5 p.m. in the Seguin Coliseum. Tickets are $50 each and can be purchased from any committee member or online from Eventbrite. A link to purchase tickets can also be found at seguintoday.com.
Committee member Herman Lampkin Jr. says the free lineup of events resumes on Sunday afternoon with this year’s Gospel Fest.
“We just bring out different musicians and singers from the area and some from not in the area. We’ve got a great lineup. I’m not going to tell you everybody that’s going to be on there, but the main person we have is Gregory Daniels. He’s a saxophonist from out of the Houston area. I’ve seen some of this brother’s videos, and he is dynamic,” said Lampkin.
Committee member Derric Bogany says people will enjoy the musical guests that will appear during Gospel Fest. He says there will be performances by talented people from all over the area.
“Uplifting music to the soul and great artists (will perform). The Seguin community choir — me and Herman kind of put that back together and revamped it — will also be singing,” said Bogany.
Zion Hills Baptist Church Pastor Kristofer Atkinson says music was such an important part of the civil rights movement, and Gospel Fest will fit right in with that tradition.
“So, we go from Negro spirituals, we go to those songs that we’ve all heard now. We call them Negro spirituals, but at the end of the day, some of these came from our very hymn books. But more so, they came from the heart of the people who were there — time in, day in and day out, sometimes leaving from the church to those pivotal landmarks that we now know. So, it’s going to be exciting to hear what they have when we bring the past and present together. We’re looking forward to hearing both that Gospel, that liberating Message will be resounding on that Sunday,” said Atkinson.
Gospel Fest begins at 4 p.m. Sunday at New St. James Baptist Church, located at 302 A.J. Malone Dr.
The final event takes place on Monday, the federal holiday honoring Dr. King. The symbolic MLK March begins at 10:15 a.m. Monday, starting on Prexy Drive at Texas Lutheran University. The procession will travel onto Court Street and continue east to Central Park in downtown Seguin.
More information about all MLK events is available on the Guadalupe County MLK Facebook page or at seguintoday.com.