{"id":124280,"date":"2026-01-19T23:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T23:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/124280\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T23:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T23:47:08","slug":"2026-st-pete-mlk-parade-draws-big-crowds-to-downtown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/124280\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 St. Pete MLK parade draws big crowds to downtown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 The celebration could be heard near and far, drawing hundreds of people to downtown St. Pete for this year\u2019s MLK parade.<\/p>\n<p>Watch Mary&#8217;s full report: <\/p>\n<p>2026 St. Pete MLK parade draws big crowds to downtown<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a staple of the community that Chris Flowers has gone to all his life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been coming to this parade for probably about 45, 50 years,\u201d said Flowers.<\/p>\n<p>The atmosphere was lively and energetic, fit for families and people of all ages, meant to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768866427_82_.jpeg\" alt=\"pic 4 mlk.jpg\"  width=\"1280\" height=\"720\"\/><\/p>\n<p>WFTS<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stpetemlkparade.com\/history-of-the-parade\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Organizers said<\/a> since its start in 1985, the MLK parade has drawn an estimated 2.5 million spectators to the streets of St. Pete, which they said makes it one of the largest and longest running MLK Day parades in the country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVery jubilant,\u201d said Gladys, who attended the parade. &#8220;Everybody seems to be getting into it, and the cold doesn\u2019t seem to be bothering them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love the camaraderie of everyone coming together celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King in a peaceful manner,\u201d said Flowers.<\/p>\n<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768866427_998_.jpeg\" alt=\"pic 1 mlk.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/><\/p>\n<p>WFTS<\/p>\n<p>The parade had a little bit of everything, from floats to bands.<\/p>\n<p>Tampa Bay 28 reporter Mary O\u2019Connell asked people what the celebration truly meant to them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think people, number one, getting together and remembering him as a group of people, as a community, all over the United States,\u201d said Gladys.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCelebration is that what he stood for, with freedom and everyone coming together as one,\u201d said Flowers.<\/p>\n<p>Share Your Story with Mary<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mediaassets.abcactionnews.com\/image\/ContactBanners\/MaryOConnell.png\"\/><br \/>Mary O\u2019Connell has a primary focus on education-related stories for Tampa Bay 28. But she also keeps an eye on public health concerns and the always-changing car insurance market. Reach out to Mary to share any of your questions or concerns.<br \/>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mediaassets.abcactionnews.com\/image\/VideoModule\/JULIE.SALOMONE.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>FWC releases report detailing deadly alligator attack at Lake Kissimmee State Park<\/p>\n<p>The couple involved launched an 11-foot canoe and traveled along Tiger Creek and then toward Lake Kissimmee prior to the incident.<\/p>\n<p>FWC releases report detailing deadly alligator attack at Lake Kissimmee State Park<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 The celebration could be heard near and far, drawing hundreds of people to downtown&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[205,61687,60097,596,202,204,52753,203,199,201,200,3670,208],"class_list":["post-124280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-abc-action-news","tag-martin-luther-king-kr","tag-mlk-day","tag-pinellas-county","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-mlk-parade","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa-bay-local-news","tag-wfts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124280","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=124280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}