King Boulevard Anniversary Celebration Scheduled

By The Continuous News Desk

Published: July 14, 2008

BRISTOL, Va. – A two-day celebration of the first anniversary of the renaming of Twin City streets for slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is scheduled for July 26-27.

The event, called Let the Trumpet Sound, will include a parade, program, reception and the showing of a documentary film, according to a news release from Wilhelmina S. Banks, curator of the NYUMBA YA TAUSI-Peacock Museum.

Last year, the governments of both Bristols renamed the Randall Street Expressway and a section of Edgemont Avenue in honor of King. The streets originally were known as Railroad Street on the Virginia side and Woodlawn Avenue in Tennessee, and ran through traditionally black neighborhoods.

The parade and unity walk are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. on July 26 and proceed from the intersection of Bob Morrison Boulevard and West State Street to the downtown parking lot at TriSummit Bank. The public is invited to join the procession.

A celebration program that will include singing, dancing and storytelling will be held in the bank parking lot until 1 p.m.

The public also is invited to a reception at John Wesley United Methodist Church, 311 Lee St., from 1-3 p.m.On Sunday afternoon, July 27, the YWCA of Bristol will show “At the River I Stand,” a King documentary filmed during the last two months of his life. The program is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. The public again is invited and a discussion of the film will follow its showing.

For more information, call (276) 669-4596 or (423) 652-2392.