The 25th annual MLK Day luncheon at the Peoria Civic Center drew more than 2,100 people for the meal and concert with Patti LaBelle. LaBelle was this year’s keynote speaker but rather than a traditional luncheon speech, LaBelle offered a full concert in the Civic Center Arena.
Alma Brown is the Chair of the MLK Day Luncheon in Peoria. Brown says the MLK Committee worked for about 8 months with Jay Goldberg Events to bring Patti LaBelle for the quarter century anniversary of the luncheon.
Brown also says this week’s presidential inauguration makes the practice of remembering and celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King all that much more important:
“We need to be out there marching, having our voices heard, running for public office. Whatever it takes to let people know there are things that we stand up for that are really important and that’s one of the things that today, Martin Luther King’s Birthday is really about.”
The luncheon and concert were followed with the annual MLK Day March in downtown that ended with a celebration and awards service at First United Methodist Church on Perry Ave.