This year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration in Fort Collins will feature new opportunities for community members to experience the late Civil Rights Movement icon.
Due to the expected extremely cold temperatures, the march portion of the community celebration has been canceled, according to organizers. However, the Day of Service will happen from 8-10 a.m. as planned, and the program at the Lincoln Center will happen at 12:30 p.m. as planned.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration update | Monday, Jan. 15
The march portion of the community celebration has been canceled. However, the Day of Service will happen from 8-10 a.m. as planned, and the program at the Lincoln Center will happen at 12:30 p.m. as planned. For the latest information on the event, visit col.st/F3sUK.
Ira Knight — a playwright, producer, director and author — will be performing “From Myth to Man: Martin Luther King” at The Lincoln Center. Knight will portray an intimate interpretation of the complex human side of King. Following his performance, audience members will be able interact with Knight acting as King during a question-and-answer session.
This year’s theme — “It Starts With Us” — is designed to reach a new generation of community members, according to organizers. Duan Ruff, director of CSU’s Black/African American Cultural Center, explained that he was inspired by his teenage children, his experiences as a CSU student and the community to bring new voices and action to the special day.
“When we say, ‘It Starts With Us,’ it starts with us changing the narrative, transforming the environments and the spaces that we live in,” Ruff said. “It’s a call to action for the entire community. It’s going to start with us and the interactions that we have each other, how we treat each other, and how we take this messaging and manifest it into the world that we live in.”
The celebration will feature a clothing drive benefiting Northern Colorado’s Homeward Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to providing basic needs to families, adults and seniors. Ruff explained that last year’s drive resulted in the largest gift to the nonprofit in the last five years.
Community members can donate clothing items between now and Jan. 12 at bins at any Poudre Library location. The morning of Jan. 15, volunteers will be needed to help sort the clothing items at The Lincoln Center. Interested volunteers can get more information and sign up at col.st/F3sUK.
Poudre Libraries also will feature lobby displays of books by and about MLK and those inspired by his work in civil rights and social justice.
The annual community event is organized by CSU, the City of Fort Collins, Front Range Community College, Poudre Libraries, Poudre School District and the BIPOC Alliance.
Ruff, who was a student athlete in the early 2000s at CSU, explained that the Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration, much like his own personal journey, has come full circle. As a student, Ruff emceed the event from the steps of the Administration Building.
“This year’s event is a bit of a throwback to the old days when I had a bunch of hair and cornrows,” Ruff said. “And back in those days, people would tell Black folks you ain’t going to get a job with your hair like that. So, it’s cool to come full circle — except for the hair loss — of how this event is kind of reaching back to its roots, but also changing the narrative moving forward.”
