The annual celebration for Martin Luther King Jr. Day will be held next week.
This year’s event will take place on Jan. 20 at 8 a.m. in Benton. Participants will gather near Berry’s store with the parade concluding at Oak Grove A.M.E. Church.
The event will include walkers, decorated vehicles and floats, ATVs and more. Families, churches, schools, lodges, sororities and fraternities, civic and social clubs and all are invited to make this year’s event the greatest ever.
The church holds a special place in the Civil Rights Movement history. In June 1966, a march for voting rights, en route from Yazoo City to Jackson, camped there while passing through Benton. The marchers, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., were provided food and water by members of the Oak Grove A.M.E. Church and by members of the Woods family, who owned property next to the church.
All are welcome to join the march to Oak Grove on Highway 16.
