COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — In a time-honored Colorado Springs tradition, the Pikes Peak Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. All People's Breakfast and Unity March would go ahead at 7:00 a.m. on Monday, organizers confirmed. They said they'd still be ready despite freezing temperatures.
"Doesn't matter how cold it is, we'll be out there marching arm in arm," Kimber Reese with the Pikes Peak Diversity Council said.
Doors would open at the Ed Robson Arena on Colorado College's campus at 7:00 a.m. Then, poetry and speeches would be held at 8:30 a.m. After that, around 10:00 a.m., the Unity March would start. While the All People's Breakfast will be the same as previous years, the Unity March would be a little different. Events that would typically be held at Acacia Park were moved inside.
"We usually go to Acacia Park, but because of the freeze warning, we are actually going to host it at the CAC, the Cornerstone Arts Center here on [Colorado College's] campus as well," Reese said.
Shirley Martinez, the President of the Pikes Peak Diversity Council, also said that the nonprofit MLK Legacy Preservation Society helped organize the events this year.
"It's about becoming together, it's about unity," Martinez said.
The organization aims to bring a younger audience to this year's march, she said.
"This is also an opportunity for us to teach our youth. It's about moving this forward," Martinez continued.
Colorado College's Collaborative For Community Engagement Office decided to host their Week of Action this week, in honor of the late Dr. King.
"I believe it was first proposed by late Congressman John Lewis to think of the Martin Luther King Holiday not as a day off, but a day on," Director of the CCE Jordan Travis Radke said.
125 students, staff, and faculty will spend the week helping serve hot meals to homeless youth at The Place, building homes with Habitat for Humanity, and sorting food with Care and Share Food Bank, she said.
"So our ultimate goal in this week is to inspire young people to become community leaders, change-makers, and community builders of the future," Jordan Travis Radke continued.