PANAMA CITY — With Martin Luther King Jr. Day observed Monday, local events are lined up to commemorate the holiday.
The Bay County Branch NAACP will host its annual prayer breakfast Saturday at 8 a.m. at Glenwood Community Center in Panama City with guest speaker Reginald James, the superintendent of Gadsden County schools.
A march is planned to begin at the Bay County Courthouse at noon Saturday.
On Monday, A-CURE will hold its annual festival at McKenzie Park from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. At noon there will be an official program where elected officials will speak to the crowd. Vendors, food booths and craft booths also will be featured.
Also, most government offices will be closed Monday for the holiday.
Rufus Wood, president of the Bay County Branch NAACP, described Martin Luther King Jr. as living a life on “unselfish, unsacrificial service.”
“To me, he was a man of love, a man of justice, a man of peace,” Wood said.
Wood said King preached a message of non-violence and hoped to be remembered as someone who gave his life in service of others.
“So what we have to do is try to make the world a better place,” Wood said.