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Dunedin To Hold First King Holiday March

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By Mark  Schantz | The Suncoast News

Published: January 5, 2008

DUNEDIN, Fla. - DUNEDIN, Fla. - This year the city's celebration of cultural diversity will include a march in honor of the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The municipal Diversity Week schedule of events will begin with a unity breakfast at 8:30 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 19, at the Hale Activity Center, on Douglas Avenue. Former Dunedin High School Principal Mildred Reed will be the featured speaker.

Then at 11 a.m. the scene will shift to Pioneer Park, on Main Street, the starting point of the city's inaugural Martin Luther King Jr. March.

The city wanted to mark the King legacy with a march and not a parade, according to David White, Dunedin volunteer coordinator. Marches were a key feature of the campaign for civil rights King led from 1957 until his assassination in 1968.

The 2008 national King birthday holiday will be observed Monday, Jan. 21.
The King March from Pioneer Park will end at the city's Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center, 550 Laura Lane.

In the event of rain the march would be canceled but from noon to 4 p.m. a number of performances by church and school groups would take place at the King Recreation Center, White said.

Art will be unveiled in the recreation center lobby commemorating King's life, followed by an afternoon of music and dance.

The Jan. 19 schedule of events at the King Center will include an address by Largo City Commissioner Rodney Woods, a viewing of a video documentary on King's "I Have a Dream" speech and closing comments by the Rev. Clem Bell, pastor of the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, Dunedin.

This year's celebration of diversity recognizes the different cultures woven in the community's fabric.

At 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 22, at the Dunedin Public Library, on Douglas Avenue, children can learn about Addy one of the American Girl Doll Collection.
The Addy doll is a young African-American girl who lived during the Civil War. Youngsters will make shell necklaces and play games.

For the adults, at 7 p.m. on Jan. 22, author Jane Zebrowski-Bulmahn will share stories from her book, "Long Journey Home." The novel deals with a family's hardships during the period of Russian domination of Poland.

Also as part of the local Diversity Week observance, the area's Chinese-American community will celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Rat, 4706. There will be a grand Chinese New Year celebration 7 - 9 p.m., Friday, Jan. 25, in Pioneer Park.
According to tradition those born in the Year of the Rat are destined to be leaders, conquerors and pioneers.

New Year's festivities planned by the city, with the help of the Suncoast Association of Chinese Americans, will include a traditional New Year's dragon dance, music, cultural performances and a variety of entertainment.

Some Diversity Week events are still being finalized, White said.

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