Amber Greene and Nydarrian Butler approach the  finish line at the MLK walk and festival.  

The 13th Annual Thomasville MLK Walk and Festival is opening up registration for their pre-walk activities and getting ready for their weekend festival activities. 

Geneva King, an organizer for the walk and festival, said that they are opening up registration for people to get involved virtually weeks in advance of the walk on January 14. 

“The registration is open now, but the actual time to start logging in steps will begin on December 26,” King said. “You know, what we do is log in and have, like, a pre-walk. The way the pre-walk started is because of the pandemic, we couldn’t have an in-person event, so we wanted to open it up so people still could participate, and now we kinda wanted to keep some of that aspect because we had people participate that work from Thomasville, but we also had people that don’t live in Thomasville that might not be able to participate in the in-person event.”

Participants 8 years old and older can log in their steps weekly through social media and qualify for prizes and rewards, like a trip to Washington D.C. raffled off to youth participants. Children under 10, she noted, needed to have an adult walk alongside them. 

The annual event, held in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, will be held throughout the weekend of January 13.

“This is the thirteenth year, it’s a community festival/event to commemorate the Martin Luther King weekend,” King said. 

Each day, she added, was themed around quotes and modeled after MLK’s beliefs, such as his dedication to serving and concentration on peace. The overall theme, according to King, was “We Cannot Forget Those Who Fought For Us,” paying honor and respects to local veterans and civil rights leaders.

On January 13, Miss Bert, from the Rickey Smiley Morning Show, will perform at the Ritz Amphitheater from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. alongside other comedic performances in partnership with Debbie’s Groove Dance Studio/Comedy Studio. 

The in-person MLK walk will be held on January 14, according to King, beginning at noon, with a patriotic concert proceeding it and further concert performances afterward beginning at 2 p.m. at the Ritz, which will include DJ Trucker, Southern Soul Concert KD Dawson, Celebrity Hair Stylist Nikk Rokks, and a panel of local civil rights leaders and veterans.

January 15, a day of inspiration according to King, will include giving out awards, essay award winners, dancers, guest speakers, an MLK choir performance, and a bake off amongst other things. 

The Grand Marshal of the event will be Benjamin Hatcher and two local students will be announced as scholarship winners.

“The MLK Walk and Festival started over 12 years ago as a way to celebrate the MLK holiday weekend through promoting health, diversity, education, humanitarianism, and decreasing health disparities, bringing awareness to COVID-19 risk factors and decreasing childhood obesity,” King said. 

Now, this year, King said, they wanted to really put the event on the map and bring more eyes to the positive activity that they had been investing so much time in. 

“We’re really trying to put Thomasville on the map,” King said. “We’re trying to bring more attention, that’s why we moved to the amphitheater. We want to bring more attention to the downtown stores and everything, because this is a very positive activity and we have people that have been a part of this activity all 13 years.”

With so much negative news out in the world, she added, it’s more important than ever to have something that brings light to the community and can bring more people to Thomasville. 

“It is something positive for the community,” King said. “You hear a lot of negative news, but this is something that brings light to the community and we wanna make it something that people wanna say, ‘hey, let’s go to Thomasville, GA on that MLK weekend because they’ve got this MLK fest they’re having.’” 

Nominations are also being accepted for a community humanitarian award winner, who is recognized and presides over the festivities each year.

This event, organized by Restoration Tabernacle Ministries, is a partnership between the City of Thomasville, CNS Next, Marguerite Williams’ Boys and Girls’ Club, Hands on Thomas County, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Lambda Xi Omega Chapter Restoration Tabernacle Ministries, House to House Moving, Debbie’s Groove and many other community sponsors and vendors. 

For more information, contact Ashley Mervin, marketing director, at 229-289-7265. Additionally, interested attendees can go to mlkhumanitarianwalk.org for more information.