Respect for a 'great man' draws thousands to parade

ST. PETERSBURG -- Tony Welch, an 11-year-old St. Petersburg fifth-grader, stood on a clogged strip of Central Avenue as the 18th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Drum Major for Justice Parade passed by Monday.

He said he came first and foremost "to celebrate Martin Luther King." He also came for "the (drum) beats and the girls. They're tight."

He was one of several thousand people to attend Monday. They came by cars, motorcycles, bicycles, skateboards, inline skates and wheelchairs.

Gloria Powers traveled from Daytona Beach to visit family and to attend the parade.

"I'm enjoying everything," she said as she lunged for a strand of beads tossed from the Stetson University College of Law float.

"They're representing someone I respect," she said of those participating in the parade. "(King) was a great man and in all of our hearts he still is."

The marching bands were a big reason so many people, equipped with cameras and camcorders, staked out spots with good views well before the official start of the parade.

By the end of the parade, Rudy Govantes was sitting on a bench on Central Avenue, surrounded by most of his seven foster children, munching on hot dogs.

Govantes, 70, has been attending the parade sponsored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference long enough to remember when it ran only through mostly African-American sections of St. Petersburg.

For Govantes, a retired New York City bus driver who works as a pharmacy technician, the parade's heyday was back when more marching bands participated.

"I would rate this parade today as in the middle," Govantes said. "It's had higher highs."

Still, he continues to attend because of "the bands and the idea that it's viewed by both blacks and whites."

Earlier in the day, at the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. leadership and awards breakfast in the Coliseum, guest speaker Will Packer Jr. borrowed from late-night comedian David Letterman, offering a Top 5 list for making the holiday "a day on, and not a day off."

Packer is chairman of Rainforest Films, an Atlanta film and video production company, and a graduate of St. Petersburg High School and Florida A&M University.

"Get caught up on world events," he said. "Daydream. Anything positive, even if it's small: Accomplishing something is better than nothing at all. Talk to your children. Help today's dreamers to strive for their dreams, and realize that they are possible."

In Tampa, the holiday was marked with a parade and a volunteer effort that had high school students picking up trash at city parks.

"It is a beautiful day to honor a great man," exclaimed Karen Peoples, 41, at the parade.

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