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King's dream kept alive

Yes, Largo City Commissioner Rodney Woods can dance. He and others boogied Saturday at Ulmer Park, where about 100 people gathered for the city's upbeat Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. community celebration.

By TERRI BRYCE REEVES
Published January 15, 2007

LARGO

It was an afternoon of hip gospel music, family fun and dancing with the commissioner.

Yes, Largo City Commissioner Rodney Woods can dance. He and others boogied Saturday at Ulmer Park, where about 100 people gathered for the city's upbeat Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. community celebration.

"I love to dance," said Woods, 49. "I've been doing it all my life."

Saturday's event, a change from the more solemn observances of years past, was the first of two events planned to honor King in Largo. At 8 a.m. today, Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, 13225 118th St., will host a breakfast in King's memory.

Members of Anointed Voices, a band for the Christ Church of Universal Love, provided the soul-stirring, contemporary music under the park's gazebo.

Meanwhile children blew bubbles, played simple games of ball toss and bowling, and slid down a giant inflatable slide. At the end of the three-hour-long festivity, community leaders, volunteers and families posed for a community photo.

Woods told the crowd that King's dream lives.

"My greatest hope is that we all move forward together in this dream," he said.

Largo's was one of three events honoring King on Saturday.

Tarpon Springs hosted a parade, and Safety Harbor offered a multipart event that included a "time line trail" marking milestones in King's life.

That trail triggered memories of segregation and discrimination for Marion Grey, now 70.

Though things are much different today, she said, "there is still room for growth."

"We need to be more interested in our neighbors. Everyone is too busy to care," she said.

Grey was one of about 100 people who turned out in Safety Harbor to remember the fallen civil rights leader during the city's third annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration.

The event featured a pancake breakfast at the Safety Harbor Community Center, followed by a mile-long march that snaked through town and ended at Daisy Douglas Park. There, black and white, young and old, ate lunch, played basketball, followed the time line trail, and mingled.

Jennifer Sanders, 32, carried her daughter Alexis, 3, on her back during the march. Sanders said they came from their Westchase subdivision in Tampa to teach her daughter a history lesson.

"We wanted her to be aware of Martin Luther King," she said. "We told her he was a strong leader who made it possible for all children to play together."

If you go

MLK Day events

Today's events honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. include:

- In Largo, Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, 13225 118th St., will host a breakfast at 8 a.m. with dancing and singing. Adults $5, children $3.

- In Clearwater, a leadership breakfast at 7:30 a.m. at the North Greenwood Recreation and Aquatic Complex, 900 N Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., followed by a march to Coachman Park at 9:30 and a rally at the park at 11 featuring Selma, Ala., Mayor James Perkins Jr. and former San Francisco 49er William Floyd. Saxophonist Eric Darius will play a concert after the rally.

- In Dunedin, remarks by local officials, as well as entertainment from the Shiloh Choir, the Bethel AME Choir and the Dunedin High School Steppers from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center, 550 Laura Lane. Call Jack Martin at 727 298-3015.

[Last modified January 14, 2007, 21:41:53]