United Concerned Citizens for Unity and the local chapter of the NAACP will be hosting the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. parade on Monday, January 16, 2011 at 1:00 p.m.
The theme for the parade will be “Completing the dream”.
All parade entrants must be lined up by 12:00 noon on Second Avenue near the post office. All vehicles must be clean and presentable.
First, second, and third place trophies will be awarded based on originality, parade theme, observance, and creativity. Trophies will be awarded in the following categories: floats, trucks, and cars.
No dogs will be allowed due to safety reasons.
The Grand Marshall of the parade is Pastor Harry A. Hand, Sr., of Eastman. He is a graduate of Twiggs County High School in Jeffersonville. Hand has received theological training from Bryant Theological Seminary in Fitzgerald, American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee, and Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. He also has an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from the Springhill Normal Institute in Macon.
Hand was ordained to preach in 1965 at Faulks Chapel Baptist Church in Jeffersonville. He has been the pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Fitzgerald for the past 30 years.
Hand was the “teaching time” minister on Big WUFF Radio in Eastman for 20 years and was employed as a community developer for the Dodge County Community Service Center for 28 years.
Hand was married to the late Bernice Hamilton Hand for 33 years. To this union he was blessed with three children, Harriet Hand, Bernadette Hand Holmes, and Harry Hand, Jr. He is also blessed to have one son-in-law, Varnard Holmes and a four-year-old grandson, Nolan Joshua Holmes.
Immediately following the parade, Reverend Tyrese Ivey will be the guest speaker at the grounds of the courthouse where the parade will conclude.
Ivey is the son of Jackie Ivey and Chris Pickett and the grandson of Eugene and Izetta Pickett and Rocky and Margaret Holland. A 2010 graduate of Dodge County High School, Ivey is the pastor of Greater Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Macon and attends Middle Georgia College in Cochran.
For more information, please contact Sammy Young at 478-374-4516, Arlene Wilcox at 478-374-3451, Joanne Fale at 478-374-5142 or John Battle at 478-374-9283.
