Sabra Wady has run the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in South LA for 14 years, and she told The LA Local this year drew the largest turnout she’s ever seen.
Wady said she took a golf cart ride along the Los Angeles Official Martin Luther King Day Parade route on Monday, filming a 15-minute video with her phone that was filled from start to finish with smiling faces.
“It was like the old, old days, when families came out and gathered,” Wady said.
Thousands congregated along King and Crenshaw boulevards Monday for the annual parade to honor the civil rights leader. Organizers said more than 180 groups entered the King Day Parade this year, the first under the leadership of the Bakewell family and the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper. The Sentinel is a media partner of The LA Local.
The parade took off down Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard around 10:20 a.m., led by a phalanx of motorcycle cops and USC’s marching band, which, of course, was led by a sword-wielding trojan.
The televised event started at 11 a.m. on ABC 7 with a performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by singers Izaac Dorn, Aja Marie and Phylicia Hill Collins.
Wady said there were a few hiccups throughout the event — “There always are in live events,” she said — but that she ended the day feeling ecstatic.
“The energy was beyond description,” she said.
Near the beginning of the lineup were a band of local heroes: the Crenshaw High School Mighty Marching Cougars. All along the route, the band drew shouts of recognition. A few came from fans of Crenshaw’s rival, Dorsey High School, but most were in support.
“It made me march a little harder,” said Gavin Brown, junior saxophone player.
Aside from Crenshaw, eight other marching bands were featured in this year’s parade, all of whom marched along King and down Crenshaw to cheers and applause from neighbors and supporters alike. Elsewhere in the parade, double decker buses and vehicles pulling floats blasted music ranging from Kendrick Lamar to Bell Biv DeVoe. Onlookers sat in folding chairs or stood by the roadside, dancing along to marching band performances or the DJs on top of the double decker buses.
As the parade trekked down King, the crowds along the boulevard thickened. The route turned into a makeshift marketplace, where vendors sold water bottles, barbecue and parade memorabilia from under pop-up shades.
Wady said next year’s parade will likely be trimmed for time. Organizers will have a longer runway for planning and vetting potential entrants. She’s sure the event will just keep growing.
“There’s too much love there,” Wady said. “You can’t squash it.”
Freedom festival in Leimert Park ends early after stabbing, officials say
Down the road In Leimert Park, LA City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Councilmembers Curren Price and Heather Hutt — who represent council districts 8, 9 and 10, respectively — organized the annual MLK Freedom Festival.
The festival began drawing crowds around noon, well before the parade ended. Vendors selling clothes, jewelry and beauty products lined Degnan Boulevard and clusters of food trucks sprouted lines.
The nonprofit Community Coalition arranged a pop-up barbershop, offering free haircuts and manicures to attendees.
The festival, which was scheduled to run until 5 p.m., closed down two hours early after a stabbing incident, according to city officials.
Los Angeles Police Officer Jeff Lee said police responded to a stabbing incident near the intersection of Crenshaw and King boulevards just before 2 p.m. Lee said a “large crowd” interfered with officers as they tried to investigate the incident, so police set up a skirmish line. Lee said no arrests have been made, and he did not have information on any injuries connected to the incident. The LA Local has reached out to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Cerrina Tayag-Rivera, a spokesperson for Harris-Dawson, said organizers began to shut the festival down around 3 p.m.
In a statement, Harris-Dawson called back to King’s legacy of peace.
“While today was filled with much unity and love, we need to keep doing everything we can to strengthen our ties and promote public safety,” Harris-Dawson wrote. “My prayers go out to the man who was injured today.”
