MLK parade brings back lively vibe - Plant City Observer

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Plant City fun, while celebrating Martin Luther King

The long-awaited parade helped to kick off the 36th annual Plant City Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Cultural Arts Festival.

The Jan. 8 event is one of many functions honoring the legacy of the late civil rights leader.

Along a strip of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., many patrons sat on lawn chairs while others stepped outside their houses to watch the procession pass by.

Floats decorated the sky while school bands filled the street with lively instrumentation. Before they were in plain sight, spectators heard the roaring engines of Corvettes during the Million Dollar Corvette Posse Stroll – another show stealer. Fifty sports cars of different colors rode along in a single file line.

Many in convertibles waved their hands high in the sky to those in attendance on both sides of the street. Others drove by showing off their custom-made doors that opened upward.

The parade ended at the Sadye Gibbs Martin Community Center.

It was the site that held numerous food vendors and where school drumline bands performed for the Battle of the Bands competition.

However, the parade was just the beginning of numerous events that will lead up to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.