Members of the Clark County Democratic Party participate in the 33rd Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade in downtown Las Vegas, Monday Jan. 19, 2015.
Published Monday, Jan. 19, 2015 | 9:23 a.m.
Updated Monday, Jan. 19, 2015 | 3:24 p.m.
Thousands of spectators lined a downtown Las Vegas avenue while drum corps, drill teams and floats paraded past during a yearly celebration of the life of Martin Luther King Jr.
The 33rd annual parade — themed by organizers as "Living the Dream: Where Do We Go From Here?" — capped weekend activities around the state ranging from a gospel play at the West Las Vegas Theater to a 29th annual Interfaith Community Memorial Service in south Reno.
The Sunday dinner in Reno drew an estimated 250 people who focused on children and the future.
"As we enter deep into 2015, we should run ahead of our children to provide for them, all of them; to protect them, all of them; to plan for them, all of them," said Angie Taylor, a Washoe County School District trustee.
"If you looked around, there was a rainbow of people, a roomful of people with joy, and we sang together, we prayed together and we held hands together," Taylor later told the Reno Gazette-Journal.
The Rev. Neal Anderson, minister at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northern Nevada, said the idea was to keep alive the legacy of King and the civil rights movement.
"I think the message of the importance of loving all our children and ensuring that all our children are cared for, have good education, have access to health care and dental care and have love in their lives, is very important to the people who came out here," he said.
King would have been 86 now. He was assassinated in April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.
In Las Vegas, the theme of the 33rd annual parade was "Living the Dream: Where Do We Go From Here?"
Parade marshals were former Democratic U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford and retired Clark County School District administrator Brenda McKinney.
Former Democratic state Assemblyman Wendell Williams heads the nonprofit Las Vegas Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee and is a parade founder. He called the event one of the best shows in town that doesn't cost any money, and an important element in sharing with today's youth the struggles of older generations.
Other King week events in Las Vegas included a parade awards breakfast Saturday at the William Pearson Community Center.
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