NEWBERRY — On Saturday, January 13, Newberry’s annual weekend celebrations for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, starting with a parade that starts at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.

The full weekend celebration started around five years ago when Travis Reeder sought to find a way to extend and do more for the important holiday.

“I had talked to a lot of people and they basically said they wanted more than one day of events. So I’ve always wanted to do the parade, but I needed help,” Reeder said.

He reached out to a local group called the Champions, an organization that dedicated themselves to raising money for cancer research and Relay for Life, who helped organize and get people signed up for the parade. “They’ve been helping me out ever since with the parade,” Reeder added.

The parade hosts over 30 participants (with time and room to sign up for businesses still interested). Reeder and the Champions urge anyone interested in being in the parade to sign up before Friday, January 12.

“I want to get as many people as I can to be involved in the parade, whether you want to be in the parade or whether you want to come and watch the parade because the whole weekend is dynamic,” said Reeder.

Following the parade, on Monday, January 15, at 9:30 a.m., there will be a march from Bethlehem Baptist Church to Miller Chapel AME Church, with a program following at 10:00 a.m.

“With the program, we first march to signify the marches of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. With the program, we always had a person who comes in and talks about the time when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was alive and the meaning of his marches and his speeches,” Reeder said.

The march also helps younger people get involved and active, as well as showing them what the marches looked and felt like during the Civil Rights Movement. This year’s speaker, who Reeder said he tries to get people from Newberry, includes Sharon Harmon, Rhode Island’s first African American to achieve the rank of Colonel in the National Guard. The program also sees a number of choirs and dance groups from across Newberry.

“We usually have well over 200 people,” Reeder said. “I’ve never had a program where the church wasn’t overfilled.”

Reeder and the Champions urge everyone in Newberry to go out to the parade on the 13 at 2:00 p.m. and take part in the march on the 15 at 9:30 a.m. with the 10:00 a.m. program following.

“It’s a day on, not a day off,” Reeder said.