Martin Luther King Jr. Day observed with parade
Published 10:35 am Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Student Cassani Steele (top) riding with friends down Second Avenue in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade on Jan. 16.(Photos by Keith McCoy)
Girls load up in a car sponsored by Wilson's Body Shop.(Photos by Keith McCoy)
Friends cook out by second avenue where the parade came by.
Solomon Hill and family waiting to the parade to begin.
Quincy and Kadence Brown waiting for the parade to begin.
Khacyn Hilliard and Ny'lah Morris wait with their bags to collect candy.
This young Mustang driver had some help from an adult.
Motorcycle riders joined in the lineup, too.
Robert Binion marches with the parade down US 31 with a megaphone.
Parade participants tossed candy to excited bystanders.
Children waited by the road with their bags at the ready.
Adults enjoyed the candy, too.
Many Mustangs were in the parade. This driver spun his tires to put on a show for onlookers.
One child rode his hoverboard to collect candy.
A few classic cars participated in the parade.
By STEVEN CALHOUN/Staff Writer
There was a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Clanton on Jan. 16.
At noon, participants lined up their cars, trailers and horses in the Clanton City Park before they started their route through Clanton at 1 p.m. Citizens watched from the side of the road as the jubilant group came through town.
The parade proceeded south down Sixth Street, turned onto US 31 by Associated Foods and went north, then took Second Avenue North to Martin Luther King Jr. Street before ending the parade at the E.M. Henry Community Center.
The organizer of the parade, Robert Binion, has organized the parade in Clanton for 17 years.
“I’m trying to groom my son into doing it and continue it on,” Binion said. “The dream is not over yet.”
Binion said he marched in the Selma to Montgomery marches of 1965 – the same marches Martin Luther King, Jr. was a part of. These marches were met with violent resistance from state troopers and drew media attention across the country. The events that transpired are credited with hurrying the passage of voting rights bills in Congress.
“I was in some of those marches where it wasn’t as friendly,” Binion said. “I was in some of the marches where they had dogs … I was 17 years old. I ran. I got so scared I ran. I was a nervous man back then. It wasn’t as march-friendly as it is now.”
Binion said it is a personal experience for him to participate in the parade.
“I wouldn’t care if nobody came to the parade but me,” Binion said. “It’s about me; to lift me up.”
Binion said when he is in the parade, he thinks about those marches of the 60s, the progress that has been made since and the progress that, according to Binion, is still necessary.
“It’s something else we’re missing. What it is, I can’t answer that,” Binion said. “I wish we would come together as a nation.”
