It was a horn-blowing, marching-band kind of day in downtown Baltimore Monday as revelers cheered and waved along the parade route named for Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights leader born 78 years ago this week.
But with King?s birthday falling in the middle of January, Baltimore?s parades in his honor have traditionally been frigid, though jubilant events. Not Monday. As temperatures climbed to 70 degrees, thousands of spectators, including Jeremiah Brown, crowded the sidewalks.
“Last year was so cold I caught a cold,” Brown said, turning to gaze up the route toward Mulberry Street, where a throng of spectators nearly spilled onto the boulevard. “Last year, there weren?t nowhere near this many people here.”
Watching with Brown was John Simmons, 46, who added that the two had been contemplating the day?s significance and King?s legacy.
“We pray that this will be a nonviolent day throughout the city,” Simmons said. “This is what he lived for.”
Many spectators reacted enthusiastically to marching bands pounding out toe-tapping rhythms and trumpeting popular tunes.
What really got them moving was a Baltimore Housing truck blaring James Brown.
“Are you ready to have a block party?” a man on a microphone asked as Brown?s breakthrough song “I?m Black and I?m Proud” prompted singalongs and impromptu dancing along the route.
Gov.-elect Martin O?Malley and incoming Mayor Sheila Dixon led the parade. For David and Karla Miller?s young children, however, the highlights were sports cars driven by Baltimore County Corvette Club members and a cavalcade of 18 horses and a Texas Longhorn handled by Calvert County?s Zydeco Cowboys.
“I think the city needs to have more events like this, especially for children and families,” David Miller said.
