By Shannon McFarlin WENK/WTPR News Director
Paris, Tenn.—This year’s Martin Luther King Day observance will have a different format from years past.
The event, which is sponsored each year by the Paris-Henry County Ministerial Alliance, will this year forgo the early community breakfast and mid-morning march to the courthouse.
This year’s theme is “Unity In Our Community” and there will be two programs, one that begins at 11 a.m. at the old Central School Building gym and another at 6 p.m. at Mt. Zion Baptist Church on Irvine Street in Paris.
At the Central School Building program, Old School vs. New School Basketball will meet. Henry Co. High School Class 2004 Team Captain Zac Teague and HCHS Class 2018 Team Captain James King will appear and there will be a special pep talk from the HCHS Basketball Coach Mike Greer and his staff.
At the evening program, featured speakers will be addressing “Unity in our County and our Country”. Pastor Corey Cain and the choir from Maplewood Baptist Church will be on hand, along with Pastor John Dandridge and the choir of the Quinn Chapel AME Church, Rev. Joe Hansen and the choir from First United Methodist Church and Pastor Thomas Taylor and choir from Union Grove Baptist Church.
Presentation of the annual Drum Major for Justice Award also will be held.
Photo: George Bass addresses the crowd at the 2016 MLK Day event at the courthouse. (Shannon McFarlin photo).