Martin Luther King Jr. Day will be marked Monday with numerous parades, musical and cultural events and volunteer opportunities throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties on the federal holiday that honors the legacy of the slain civil-rights leader.
Monday’s biggest Southland event for the occasion will take place in South Los Angeles, where the annual MLK Day parade is under new leadership — Bakewell Media, publisher of the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper.
Bakewell took over the event — formerly called the Kingdom Day Parade — and rebranded it as the “Los Angeles Official Martin Luther King Day Parade” after the previous organizers, Adrian Dove and the L.A. chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality California, decided to retire from producing the event.
The parade, which annually draws thousands of spectators, is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Monday at Western Avenue and MLK Jr. Boulevard, ending at Leimert Park.
ABC7 will broadcast the parade live from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. It will feature floats, marching bands, faith-based and community organizations, local and national leaders and more. Cedric The Entertainer will serve as grand marshal.
Following the parade, L.A. City Council members Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Curren Price and Heather Hutt will host the MLK Freedom Festival in the historic Leimert Park Village. The festival will feature music performances from the likes of the Grammy award-winning Avila Brothers, along with a community resource fair, local vendors, food trucks and more.
Assemblyman Isaac Bryan, D-Culver City, and state Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, D-Los Angeles, are among those scheduled to attend the event.
The Freedom Festival will also feature the South Los Angeles Community Coalition’s “The Barbershop,” which aims to replicate the safe spaces that barbershops and nail salons have represented in the Black community for generations.
Organizers say the setup will be used as a forum to discuss MLK’s call for justice, dignity and collective action. Topics will include community safety, housing, economic justice and the power of people-led solutions. The coalition will also launch a community poll to identify key issues felt by South LA residents.
Also Monday, the annual MLK Day Volunteer Festival will take place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, beginning at noon and run by the nonprofit L.A. Works. It’s billed as “the largest activation of service event honoring Martin Luther King Jr. at a moment when the city’s need for collective action has never been greater.”
The event will focus on wildfire recovery and uplifting displaced families, and standing with immigrant communities, organizers said. It will include volunteer projects, educational activities, a nonprofit fair and BIPOC small-business zone, a live DJ, and more.
According to the festival’s website, tickets are sold out, with “thousands of Angelenos (stepping) … forward to join the movement on MLK Day to transform compassion into action.”
“We are at capacity for this year’s event and cannot accommodate walk-ups, but there are still powerful ways to honor Dr. King’s legacy through action,” organizers said.
Information on other volunteer opportunities is available at laworks.com/mlk2026.
Meanwhile, the volunteer organization Big Sunday will conduct its 14th annual MLK Day Clothing Drive & Community Breakfast from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday at South Park Elementary School, located at 8510 Towne Ave.
Big Sunday aims to collect non-perishable food and clothes for a new, year-round food pantry. In addition to the food and clothes drive, the nonprofit will organize gardening and other school beautification projects, arts and crafts activities and a special MLK Day mosaic project.
Other Monday MLK events include:
— In Exposition Park, the California African American Museum, at 600 State Drive, will host a King Day program from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. that will include a community service book donation drive supporting the Little Free Library at the Crenshaw Family YMCA; a faux stained glass workshop; a King study group; and concluding with a performance by the Inner City Youth Orchestra of L.A.
— In Santa Clarita, a “Unity Walk” will take place at 9 a.m. at Central Park, 27150 Bouquet Canyon Road. Mayor Laurene Weste will provide remarks near a public art installation called “When Cloud Met a Cloud,” located toward the park’s exercise staircase.
— In Santa Monica, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Westside Coalition’s 41th annual holiday celebration will take place with the theme “Injustice Anywhere Is A Threat To Justice Everywhere.” The keynote speaker will be Emmy award-winning producer and reporter Bonnie Boswell, executive producer for Bonnie Boswell Reports on PBS. The celebration will begin at 9 a.m. at John Adams Middle School’s Performing Arts Center, 2425 16th St.
— Cerritos’ MLK Day ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 18000 Park Plaza Drive. The ceremony will feature remarks by members of the Cerritos City Council, plus guest speakers, a poetry presentation and musical performances.
— In Long Beach, the Queen Mary will commemorate MLK Day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a student speech-writing contest, a lecture series and a screening of MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech. The Queen Mary is docked at 1126 Queens Highway.
— In downtown Los Angeles at 3 p.m., Archbishop José H. Gómez will celebrate a Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels to honor the life of MLK. The cathedral is located at 555 W. Temple St., and the Mass will also be livestreamed at youtube.com/watch?v=P4aaBJIGtIU.
— In Irvine, the Pretend City Children’s Museum will celebrate the legacy of King “with special activities and thoughtful discussions.” The event, from 10 a.m to 4 p.m., will “honor and celebrate Black leaders, artists, and innovators throughout the day.” The museum is located at 29 Hubble.
— In Santa Ana, Reconcile Church Collective will hold an Orange County MLK Breakfast at 8 a.m. The church is located at 1010 W. 17th St.
MLK Day, observed on the third Monday of January, began in 1986 under President Ronald Reagan. In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed a bill making MLK Day a day of service. King’s actual birthday was Jan. 15, 1929. Monday marks the 97th anniversary of his birth. He was shot and killed by an assassin on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. He was 39.