For the second year in a row, the annual Kingdom Day Parade held in South Los Angeles to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event, traditionally followed by a festival in Leimert Park, had been scheduled for King Day on Jan. 17.
Adrian Dove, chairman of CORE-CA’s Kingdom Day Parade, said in a statement the move is in response to the “severity of serious spikes in (COVID) hospitalizations in Los Angeles.”
“The entire Board of Directors of the Kingdom Day Parade voted unanimously to take the drastic action of canceling this year’s parade on the street in order to avoid even the faintest possibility of sponsoring a super- spreader event,” Dove said.
The parade was also scrubbed last year due to the pandemic, but it was replaced with an hourlong televised celebration that featured an interview with King’s oldest son, highlights of past parades and interviews with local dignitaries about King’s impact on their lives.
There was no immediate word if such an alternative celebration will held this year.
