Years after it began within the city's black churches, College Park's annual tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. has become one of the city's proudest traditions.
Each year, the event features area school children, music groups and speakers, all paying tribute to King's message of peace and equality. The tradition continued Saturday, as the city held its 19th annual celebration at the University of Maryland, College Park's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
The event drew about 400 people Saturday and has grown significantly since it began in the city's historically black Lakeland community in 1992. It outgrew the City Hall council chambers about 10 years ago and has since moved from the National Archives in College Park to the Smith Center in 2005.
Saturday's celebration featured performances from nine music and dance groups, including such city-based children's choirs as the Maryland Boy Choir, College Park Youth Choir and Friends Community School chorus, which sang two songs honoring King and such famous black figures as Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks.
"I just felt great to be here," said Friends choir member Sarah McCarthy, 11, of Greenbelt. "[People] can learn that no matter what type of skin color we have, it doesn't matter what we look like on the outside — it's what's on the inside that counts."
The event also featured hymns and dancing from various religious groups, including the First Baptist Church of College Park, the Buddhist SGI-USA New Century Chorus of Washington, D.C., and the Metropolitan Washington Baha'i Chorale.
"It doesn't matter what your faith was," said Mark Simmons, a spectator from Bethesda. "It all dealt with what Martin Luther King talked about, which is peace and harmony amongst all of us."
The event's planning committee is headed by Monroe Dennis, president, Lakeland Civic Association; and Thelma Lomax, wife of the late Dervey Lomax, who was College Park's first and only black mayor from 1973 to 1975.
"It still keeps Dr. King's dream alive," Lomax said. "Not only just to keep it alive but to do what it really stood for — and that's to bring people together."
E-mail David Hill at dhill@gazette.net.
