‘Together we can climb to the mountain top’: Hundreds celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy
Posted: January 20, 2025 133
Donnie Griffin, Lift Every Voice Legacy founder and president, right, pauses for a photo with LEVL board member and Mountlake Terrace City Councilmember Steve Woodard.Dancers from the Grupo Folklorico Neuestras Raices take the stage with an energetic and joyful performance.Camden DuPug, 3, gets some tips from mom Britta Wunderlich in the ceramics workshop.Edmonds Waterfront Center volunteer and Police Department Community Engagement Coordinator Tabatha Shoemake reads Rosa’s Bus to a group of attendees. The book tells the story of Rosa Parks and her legendary one-person stand against segregation on public transit.Edmonds Bookshop owner Michelle Bear brought an array of books focusing on the civil rights and Dr. King’s legacy.Workshops in self-defense and self-awareness were offered by Lynnwood’s Chikara Karate-Do. L-R: Nicole Hanna, Chikara Karate-Do owner and founder Misha Carter and Angelina Hanna.It was all fun and games in the interactive play room as 4-year-old Gussie Robson of Edmonds chases a balloon.Jana Cliason can’t resist a few dance steps with daughters Lucy, age 5, and baby Emmie in the dance workshop conducted by Edmonds’ Barclay Shelton Dance Studio.Members of Mount Vernon High School’s Mariachi Gear Up warm up on the Waterfront Center’s outdoor patio.Dancers from Mount Vernon High School’s Mariachi Gear Up take the stage.Mon Murcela help son Oscar, age 1 1/2, prepare his pizza in the Healthy Snacks workshop.A poster of the official proclamation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day by Edmonds Mayor Mike Rosen greets attendees as they enter the event.Edmonds Mayor Mike Rosen congratulates Griffin on the event.
More than 700 attendees packed the Edmonds Waterfront Center Monday morning to join and celebrate the message and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. King was born on Jan. 15, 1929, and in 1983 his birthday was declared a federal holiday to be celebrated each year on the third Monday in January.
Despite being shortened to two hours this year, the event — sponsored by the Edmonds-based Lift Every Voice Legacy — carried on the tradition of past Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances with an energetic and engaging mix of stage performances, workshops, arts, games and children’s book readings.
“With all the turmoil in our country, we come together today as a community to commemorate Dr. King and to recall his message to celebrate and practice the things that bring us together: loving our neighbors, joy and forgiveness, and reconciling our differences,” said event organizer Donnie Griffin, president of the Lift Every Voice Legacy. “The challenges we will face in the coming years will be difficult, but by joining hands we can realize Dr. King’s dream and together climb to the mountain top. And the dream will never die.”
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