The Richmond County Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Foundation has four days of activities this weekend in honor of the slain civil rights leader.
The first event is the annual MLK Gala from 6-11 p.m. Friday night at Liberty Place.
Events continue Saturday morning with an 8 a.m. prayer breakfast at IHOP, followed by the annual parade down East Washington Street at noon.
Ellerbe Mayor Brenda Capel will be the grand marshal for this year’s parade.
Capel, an Ellerbe native who spent three decades in the mental health field, was elected as the town’s first African American mayor in 2021 and was recently reelected to the office.
Richmond County native and Grammy winner Dante Bowe was the grand marshal in 2023.
Click here to see photos from the 2023 MLK parade.
On Sunday, an ecumenical service will be held at Outreach for Jesus in Hamlet, with Minister Angelica Simmons as the guest speaker.
A graduate of Pinecrest High School, Simmons holds a juris doctor and is scheduled to graduate from Duke University Divinity School in May. She is also the founder and executive director of The Fannie Lou Hamer Institute of Advocacy and Social Action.
Events wind down Monday with a noon luncheon at Wayman Chapel, south of Hamlet on Osborne Road.
Slated as the guest speaker for the luncheon is Dr. Saundra Wall Williams, who was raised in the Little Philadelphia community.
Williams graduated from Richmond Senior High School in 1981 and went on to earn her bachelor’s, master’s and a doctorate in education from N.C. State University. According to her bio, Williams also holds a Master of Divinity from Regent University and was awarded an Honorary Associate of Science degree from Richmond Community College.
Williams is currently CEO of WMS Leadership Solutions, “a professional development, consulting and training company that supports emerging and established women leaders in education, technology and ministry,” as well as an adjunct research professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development at N.C. State.
