2025 MLK Holiday Events
In cooperation with our presenting sponsors, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade & Festivities Committee annually organizes and presents innovative, entertaining, signature events that commemorates the life and legacy of the civil rights icon.
This celebration is the foundation on which the organization seeks to promote the individual value and potential of all people as a means to eliminate poverty, racism, and violence everywhere. Recognizing society’s formidable 21st century challenges, our advocacy is currently expanding education and community service, especially for youth and families.
To that end, our efforts, rooted in Dr. King’s dream and vision, are predicated on
empowering a new generation of powerful, positive, social change-makers.
2025 Theme: "Don't Give Up on the Dream!"
Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech
Unity is up to all of us.
Dr. King's Dream of a world where "unarmed truth and conditional love will have the final word" is more important than ever in combatting today's highly visible divisiveness and injustice.
We invite you to join us in continuing Dr. King's Legacy
as our community strives for positive social change.
We need Leaders
who tirelessly work to eliminate prejudice and achieve equal rights for all humanity.
We seek Trailblazers who will find new avenues to erradicate oppression.
We appreciate Activists who nonviolently stand up for whatever is good and right.
We want Messengers to share this wonderful dream for peace and harmony.
And, we encourage Dreamers who imaginatively aspire to create a better world
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“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because
they have not communicated with each other."
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
48 Annual MLK Parade
48 Annual MLK Parade
A signature event that is part of the national registry of MLK Holiday celebrations honoring Dr. King’s dream for unity, freedom, social and economic equality, justice and sustainability, our parade is the oldest and largest celebration in the U.S., boasting a record 500,000 in attendance. Scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. on Monday, January 20, 2025, with the planned 2.5 hr. Liberty City route running from NW 54th St and 7th Ave. to 32nd Ave., the parade follows 10 miles of sacred ground that Dr. King once traveled during his frequent engagements in Miami.
There are more than 100 entries that include corporate floats; federal, state, and local officials; police and military units; historic pioneers; high school and college marching bands; dance and drill teams; equestrians; classic and exotic cars; motorcycles; historic MD transit bus; civic, church, community, and veteran groups; and trade unions.
The parade will be videotaped and shown as an hour-long special on WLRN / PBS that has a viewership of 1.9 million people.
Family Festivities
Family Festival
Along with Miami-Dade Parks and Recreation Dept., from 12 noon - 5 p.m. at the MLK Memorial Park at 6000 NW 32nd Ct., corporations, community and civic groups will collaborate to produce cultural programs, entertainment performances, and culinary experiences--all designed to honor, promote, unify, and preserve our local, vibrant African and Caribbean heritage.
Rooted in the ingenuity and excitement of the human spirit, this intergenerational celebration is key to cultivating racial pride and nurturing community building by recognizing ethnic contributions to our contemporary society and transmitting that knowledge to future generations.
With a people-centered approach that focuses on improving the local communities' self-reliance, social justice, and participatory decision-making, the festival engenders the connectivity, sustainability and quality of place necessary to build strong, responsible, peaceful, loving families. Together, they are more cognizant and adaptive to different ways of seeing, understanding, experiencing, and transforming where we live, how we work, and what we dream--both for ourselves and our world.
Presented by Cox Media on the WEDR 99 JAMZ Mainstage, hosted by international recording artists and top DJs. the Soundtrack of Our Lives will showcase a variety of music genres: R&B, Soul,Jazz, Reggae, Rap, Salsa, Merengue, Hip Hop, Rake-n-Scrape, Soca, Reggaeton & Haitian Compas.
• Live music, dance, and theater will be performed on the Cultural stage with artworks exhibited throughout the venue.
• For children 5-14, a Children’s Village, sponsored by Miami Parks & Recreation offers interactive games, sport & physical challenges and an exploration of MLK history. With the goal of promoting the importance of culture and the arts in expressing individual and collective freedom, kids will participate in creative arts projects designed to spotlight and communicate MLK’s message to today’s world.
Vendors
A Marketplace affords vendors the opportunity to sell a variety of products, including clothing, cosmetics, oils, books, jewelry, tropical plants, herbs, spices, natural products, arts & crafts, and more.
• Local restaurants, food trucks, and grocers staff the
Food Corner--a fan favorite, crowd unifier, and an impactful
economic element--where you can sample a variety of menus
and foodstuffs from Soul Food to Louisiana Creole to
traditional dishes from the Caribbean and the Motherland.
Delicious menus include African falafel fritters; Brazilian
espetinhos; African American barbecue; Trinidadian doubles
and roti; Jamaican patties, jerk ribs and chicken; Cuban
arepas; Bahamian conch fritters; Haitian griot; Mexican tamales; Dominican empanadas; fried
plantains, boiled peanuts, roasted corn, and coconut water.