{"id":60837,"date":"2026-01-09T17:27:56","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T22:27:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=60837"},"modified":"2026-01-09T17:27:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T22:27:59","slug":"48th-annual-rev-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-parade-celebrating-a-legacy-of-strength-a-future-of-actions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/01\/09\/48th-annual-rev-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-parade-celebrating-a-legacy-of-strength-a-future-of-actions\/","title":{"rendered":"48th Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade Celebrating \u201cA Legacy of Strength,\u00a0A Future of Actions\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The City of Lakeland is proud to announce the 48th Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade, taking place on Saturday, January 17, 2026, beginning at 1:00 p.m. This year\u2019s theme, \u201cA Legacy of Strength, A Future of Actions,\u201d will unite the community in honoring the enduring legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his message of equality, service, and unity.<\/p>\n\n\n

26-MLK-Dr-Martin-Luther-King-Jr-Parade<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n

The parade will feature more than 100 participants and begin at the intersection of Providence Road and West 14th Street. From there, the route will travel south along Providence Road, turn east onto 10th Street, continue south on MLK Jr Avenue, and conclude at 2nd Street. Attendees can look forward to a vibrant procession showcasing professional floats, marching bands, dance teams, decorated vehicles, car clubs, and other dynamic community groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parade participants will be judged in several categories: Walkers, Decorated Vehicle, Professional Float, Flatbed\/Trailer, Dance Group, Car Club, Band, and Unique Cars\/Trucks. Judging will take place at the intersection of MLK Jr Avenue and 10th Street. First, second, and third place winners will be recognized in each category, with awards announced at a later date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the parade, residents are encouraged to take part in a series of community events leading up to the celebration, organized by the Reverend Dr. MLK Commission of Lakeland. These events provide opportunities for reflection, service, and education in honor of Dr. King\u2019s life and legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The City of Lakeland extends its sincere appreciation to the Reverend Dr. MLK Commission of Lakeland and MIDFLORIDA Credit Union for their continued partnership and support in making this annual event possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The community is invited to attend the MLK Parade and join in celebrating unity, history, and service. If you can\u2019t make the parade in person, join the celebration from home! Residents unable to make the parade in person are encouraged to watch live on Spectrum Channel 643, and FiOS Channel 43. The broadcast will also be streamed with closed captions on www.lakelandgov.net<\/a> and will be available as a video-on-demand service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For additional details, visit LakelandGov.net\/MLK or contact the organizers at MLKParade@lakelandgov.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

26-Dream-Megafest_Events<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The City of Lakeland is proud to announce the 48th Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade, taking place on Saturday, January 17, 2026, beginning at 1:00 p.m. This… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"12","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDFcL2Rvd25sb2FkLTcud2VicD9maXQ9Mjc1JTJDMTgzJnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiNDh0aCBBbm51YWwgUmV2LiBEci4gTWFydGluIEx1dGhlciBLaW5nIEpyLiBQYXJhZGUgQ2VsZWJyYXRpbmcgXHUyMDFjQSBMZWdhY3kgb2YgU3RyZW5ndGgsXHUwMGEwQSBGdXR1cmUgb2YgQWN0aW9uc1x1MjAxZCIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiaGlnaHdheSIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.7b4Q4V8j9q7R72i0sQaOWkbgfz74OtHDp9NVfOLKFEgMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":60842,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/download-7.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[13145,13146],"class_list":["post-60837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-48th-annual-rev-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-parade-celebrating-a-legacy-of-strength","tag-a-future-of-actions"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60837"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60843,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60837\/revisions\/60843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}