By Rita Howell
A full weekend of activities is being planned as a local commemoration of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Scheduled events begin Friday and include a basketball tournament, business expo, beauty review, musical program, prayer breakfast, march, and memorial program.

“Unity in the Community Through Knowledge and Empowerment” is the theme for the weekend. Events are being planned by the South Panola Hi-Y and Tri-Hi-Y clubs and the Sardis District Ministrial Alliance.

2015 marks the 26th year for the local celebration.

A basketball jamboree will be held Friday night beginning at 6 p.m. at the Batesville Junior High gym.

On Saturday an African American Business Expo will be hosted by the commemorative committee at the Patton Lane Community Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saturday evening at 6 an MLK Beauty Revue is planned for girls ages 13-18, representing area churches. The pageant will be at the Patton Lane Center.

The annual Commemoration Musical will be held at Mt. Zion M.B. Church in Sardis at 6 p.m.
On the Martin Luther King Day holiday, the local observance will begin with a prayer breakfast for clergy and community leaders at 8 a.m. at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Batesville. At 10 a.m. a march will begin from Mt. Zion, where King spoke in 1968, and proceed down Panola Avenue, through the Square, and to the Batesville Intermediate School auditorium where a program is planned.

The Rev. Russell U. Bailey Sr., pastor of The Victory Church of Memphis, will give the keynote address. A Memphis native, he has been in the ministry for 38 years.

For information on any of the events, contact the following: Dennis Hoskins, basketball tournament, 934-6474; Rhonda Leland, business expo and musical program, 654-0420; Dr. Zannie Leland, march and commemoration services, 563-3020.