March, celebration will honor Doctor Martin Luther King Junior on Monday

Reporter: Tiffany Rizzo Writer: Matthew Seaver
Published: Updated:
Dr. Martin Luther King speaking. Credit: AP

Residents in Fort Myers are getting ready to remember the life and legacy of Doctor Martin Luther King Junior.

On Monday, hundreds will gather at the Dunbar Jupiter Hammon Library and will march all the way to Centennial Park. The march will honor the civil rights icon on what would have been his 93rd birthday.

Everyone is invited to join. The march will begin at 11 a.m. and will be followed by a multi-cultural celebration at 12 p.m.

Organizers are hoping to bridge the gap and bring the community together. They say Martin Luther King Day is all about unity.

The multi-cultural celebration will have live music and entertainment, vendors, businesses offering jobs, and volunteers handing out surveys for the change they wish to see in their community.

Dunbar Festival Committee Vice President Edward Harris said while we have come a long way, there is still a lot of work to be done.

“The vision that he had is not over, that we have to continue to keep the march going, we have to continue to keep it in front of our youth especially because they need to understand the work and the sacrifice that was made by our ancestors and by their grandmothers and grandfathers that they made so that we could have equality and so that we could all be able to enjoy life on a much more together level,” said Harris.

After a year with so much divide, Harris said he hopes everyone can stand together for one common cause. “MLK Day is not just about Dr. King, African Americans, if you will, it’s about everybody. It’s about the unity of our people, as a whole are from city leaders to even know broadening out to our communities. We want to be able to incorporate Cape Coral, we want, you know, the local areas that are around people to walk from come from Punta Gorda, all the tri-county areas.”

State Road 82 to Monroe Street and Edwards Drive will be closed for the march and is set to reopen around 12:15 p.m. Monday.

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