Martin Luther King Day celebration returns to Music Hall this year

Nearly 50 years after the death of Martin Luther King Jr., people will celebrate his legacy around the Queen City on Monday.  This is the MLK Coalition’s 43rd annual celebration of the holiday in Cincinnati, dedicated to keeping King’s legacy vibrant in our community with 2018's theme of “If Not Now, When?” Beginning at 10:30 a.m., hundreds of people will gather outside the Freedom Center’s Harriet Tubman Theater. After brief remarks and prayers, marchers will proceed to Fountain Square for an interfaith prayer service at 11 a.m. before continuing to a commemorative celebration at noon at Music Hall in Over-the-Rhine. Additionally, Hoxworth Blood Center is hosting a blood drive at the Freedom Center from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday at the Freedom Center with support from Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha fraternity and Be The Match. A donor bus will also be parked at Music Hall from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. All donors will receive a free commemorative tumbler, as well as free admission to the Kinsey Collection at the Freedom Center.  Be The Match, an organization dedicated to providing unrelated marrow and stem cell donors to patients needing a life-saving donor match, will be onsite registering individuals for the bone marrow registry and providing information. "It is the privilege and honor of Hoxworth Blood Center to partner with these organizations for another Martin Luther King, Jr. Day blood drive," said Alecia Lipton, Hoxworth spokesperson. "Dr. King placed a great deal of importance on service, unity, and community. The act of giving blood is an excellent way to honor Dr. King and his values."