Just weeks after hosting its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration with music and speakers, the city is considering scaling the event down to a “day of service.”
The MLK Day event requires a large amount of staff time and over six months of planning, city communications director Sharon Kraun said at the City Council’s Jan. 24 retreat, and getting speakers can be difficult in competition with intown Atlanta’s MLK Day events. The city would still issue its annual Humanitarian Award, which has been announced at the MLK Day event.
The city is considering changes to several of its celebrations, including expanding two new events that successfully debuted last year: a Lantern Parade at Morgan Falls Overlook Park and the Spooky Springs event at Halloween.