Crowd braves weather to attend city’s second annual MLK parade
Aparade celebrating Martin Luther King’s legacy wound through downtown despite the threat of rain on Monday, the holiday commemorating King’s birthday. Showers held off just long enough for the second annual Texarkana
MLK Parade, themed “Honoring the Dream,” to complete its route without getting rained on.
Sponsored by nonprofit youth support group Bridging the Gaps of Arkansas, the parade had about a dozen participants from Texarkana and the region. Spectators stood under gray skies beside Broad, Front, Olive and Fourth streets.
A forecast of scattered precipitation, possibly severe, changed at least one parade participant’s presentation.
The weather caused Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church to change its parade plans, Youth Director LaTonya McElroy said. Instead of using an open-air float, the church opted to keep participants inside covered vehicles, showing their handmade signs about King through windows.
Community Alternative Prevention Program, a regional anti-drug organization, chose to use an uncovered trailer as its float. Portraying King, Michael Madison, 8, stood at a podium on the float shouting “I have a dream!” as CAPP volunteers threw candy to those watching on the sidewalk.
The Civil Air Patrol color guard led the procession, followed by a pickup sponsored by Bridging the Gaps that carried the parade’s grand marshal,
2008 Arkansas High School graduate and former University of Arkansas football player Telvin Griffin.
Griffin now lives in the Dallas area and is pursuing an acting career, but he was honored to accept parade organizer Brandon Houff’s invitation to participate.
“This is my city. I’m happy to come back for any reason,” Griffin said.
Other participants included Red Cross, KTOY-FM, Dancing Diamonds dance troupe, Dibrell Gang horse riding club, Canaan Missionary Baptist Church and Saint Matthew Baptist Church.
Nicole Hill, pastor of parade participant Calvary Christian Church No. 13, summed up why the day was worth celebrating.
“Martin Luther King was a powerful man who believed in peace and nonviolence. His dream was for everyone, all kinds of people, to get along,” she said.