City’s MLK Parade cancelled amid COVID

City’s MLK Parade cancelled amid COVID

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Philadelphia’s 2021 Martin Luther King Jr. parade has been cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns. 

The parade was originally scheduled for Jan. 16 and is usually on MLK’s birthday. 

Eva Tisdale, a member of the Community in Action Organizatio, said it’s devastating for the parade to be called off, since it’s always a big deal. 

The parade has gotten larger and more successful every year, and it’s had participants from Pearl River Resort, the Boys and Girls Club, and the Choctaw Indian Tribe, Tisdale said.

“I look forward to the parade every year and seeing it grow, so not having it this time around is a huge disappointment,” Tisdale said. “The out of town bands have already declined to participate as well.”  

Tisdale hopes that even though the MLK parade was cancelled, the Community in Action Organization is hoping to get Juneteenth off the ground this year if the pandemic gets better. 

Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, is a holiday celebrating the emancipation of those who had been enslaved in the United States. 

The organization talked about having Juneteenth this past year, but COVID came along and cancelled any plans for it. She said if things get better, they hope to have Juneteenth in 2021.

“Even though we’re not having a parade, I still hope people in the community can come together and do some community service activities to make up for the cancelled parade,” she said. “We’re still hoping to do something positive for the community.” 

The Community in Action Organization will be sending letters that will go out to various organizations and churches about the community service project to get members of the community to come out and participate on Jan. 18, the planned date of the project. 

Tim Moore, director of the Philadelphia-Neshoba County Chamber of Commerce, stands behind the decision of the committee, and said this call is one of the many tough decisions they’ve had to make during the pandemic. 

“The committee values the safety of all citizens and has made the tough decision to cancel, but they are making plans for events this summer,” Moore said. “We’ll hopefully be able to have those.”

For more information about the community service project and upcoming summer events, call Eva Tisdale at 601-479-1370.






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