ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Hundreds gathered in downtown Orlando on Saturday for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. parade, kicking off a weekend of celebrations across Central Florida honoring the civil rights leader\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n
Onika Savage, attending the parade in Orlando for the first time with her kids, described the experience as memorable. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first time for me, it\u2019s a first time for my kids, to come downtown,\u201d Savage said.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s theme \u2014 Mission Possible 2: Building Community and Uniting a Nation the Non-Violent Way \u2014 reflected the spirit of the weekend\u2019s events. The theme resonated with Lawanda Thompson, who said the celebration was needed now more than ever. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe importance of that is, because look at what we\u2019re going through in this country right now. We need unity. We need to be together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it\u2019s FREE)<\/a> | PINIT! Share your photos<\/a>] <\/p>\n Music, dancers and walkers carrying signs offered different ways to honor Dr. King, whose work for equality helped change the United States and is remembered by a national holiday created 40 years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cDoctor King was all about, you know, pressing things forward so far as seeing a vision and having a dream and seeing it for what? It\u2019s all coming together,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n Another mother, Princess Coleman, said celebrating together mattered for her family.<\/p>\n \u201cIt feels amazing and I\u2019m here for it because we need to become one group, OK? We want America,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Savage said the holiday feels especially important in today\u2019s world. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important right now more than ever because of what\u2019s going on, not here in America, but what\u2019s going on all over. (\u2026) If we\u2019re to remain unified and not separated, then we got to come together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Central Florida MLK Weekend Events<\/p>\n Sunday, Jan. 18<\/p>\n Unity Heritage Festival \u2014 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Winter Park\u2019s Shady Park, celebrating heritage and community togetherness.<\/p>\n Monday, Jan. 19 (MLK Day)<\/p>\n Arthur \u201cPappy\u201d Kennedy MLK Prayer Breakfast \u2014 7:45 a.m., First Baptist Church, Orlando, with inspirational speeches and reflection.<\/p>\n MLK Day of Service \u2014 Million Meal Pack \u2014 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Orange County Convention Center, volunteers pack meals for families in need.<\/p>\n Ocoee Unity Parade & Celebration \u2014 10 a.m. parade followed by family-friendly activities.<\/p>\n Clermont MLK Parade & Celebration \u2014 10 a.m., Waterfront Park, featuring entertainment, games and food.<\/p>\n Winter Garden MLK Parade & Community Celebration \u2014 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., downtown Winter Garden.<\/p>\n Winter Park Unity Heritage Festival \u2014 Continues, with performances, children\u2019s activities and community exhibits.<\/p>\n [MORE ORLANDO: ICE tours Orlando warehouse as possible detainment center]<\/p>\n Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Hundreds gathered in downtown Orlando on Saturday for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[9316,30275,2275,52752,2457,30657,1335,139,141,140],"class_list":["post-122313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-black-history","tag-civil-rights","tag-downtown-orlando","tag-dr-martin-luther-king-jr","tag-history","tag-mlk","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}