The annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day march and celebration will take place Monday, Jan. 15, in Tucson.
The March to Reid Park starts at 8 a.m. at MLK Way and East 36th Street.
The Celebration in the Park, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., will feature live performances and food, retail and information vendors, with stage and sound provided by 4T Sounds Unlimited.
The celebration is at the outdoor performance center at Reid Park, 900 S. Alvernon Way.
For more information, see the MLK Celebration Tucson Facebook page.
Lane closures related to the MLK march from about 8 a.m. to noon Monday will affect motorists.
One lane on eastbound East 36th Street from MLK Jr. Way to South Kino Parkway will be closed.
One lane on southbound Kino Parkway from 36th Street to East 22nd Street will be closed.
The southbound Kino Parkway on-ramp at 22nd Street will be closed.
One lane of westbound 22nd Street from South Country Club Road to Kino Parkway will be closed.
One lane of northbound Country Club Road from East 23rd Street to Picnic Place will be closed.
In addition, the MLK Jr. holiday on Monday is a day of service organized by AmeriCorps in honor of the civil rights leader’s life and legacy.
For the service day, Interfaith Community Services of Tucson is collecting essential supplies of diapers and wipes, adult incontinence supplies and menstrual products for community members in need. They will be distributed through ICS food banks. For information, see tucne.ws/service.
Sixty years ago, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. issued his resounding call for racial harmony that set off decades of push and pull toward progress. The historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom remains a marker by which progress is measured. But that progress — namely civil and voting rights legislation passed in the mid-1960s — teeters precariously on the edge of partisanship. Ambassador Andrew Young reflects on the march and the state of civil rights 60 years later.
