West Side Grows Together presents the 10th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Clean Up, Peace March, and Celebration: ‘Celebrate the MLKing in You: Living the Legacy’

Credit: Brandon Bolinski, Bolinski Media

Wilmington, DE: West Side Grows Together in partnership with the Wilmington Peacekeepers,  Teen Warehouse, Be Ready CDC, Delaware Art Museum, Delaware Nature Society, Guerilla Republik, 302 Guns Down, Network Connect, Delaware Humanities, and the City of Wilmington will host the 10th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Clean Up, Peace March, and Celebration on Monday, January 17th and Monday, February 21st, 2022. 

Due to safety concerns around the Omicron variant, what is traditionally a day-long event has been split into two opportunities for community service and celebration.  The event has been adapted as follows:

• Monday, January 17th

  • 11am-12:30pm Community Clean Up at the West 7th Street Bridge over I-95, between Jackson & Adams Streets (Rain Date: February 21st)

• Monday, February 21st, 2022

  • 12:30-1pm Peace March lineup at the West 7th Street Bridge over I-95, between Jackson & Adams Streets

  • 1-2pm Peace March

  • 2-4pm Celebration on the West 7th Street Bridge 

Masks are required and social distancing and pre-registration is strongly encouraged though on-site registration will be available.  Attendees may go to westsidegrows.org/mlkday for event details and to register.

The ten year anniversary theme is “Celebrate the MLKing in You: Living the Legacy.” Ten years ago, the Wilmington Peacekeepers partnered with West Side Grows Together to add a community celebration to their MLK Jr. Peace March.  In the years since, their legacy and partnership has developed into the multi-faceted iconic event that exists today: a peace march, community celebration, neighborhood clean-up, free meal, local art demonstrations, youth activities, resources, and music/dance performances. The organizing team intentionally changes the event’s location and route each year to highlight different parts of the city and the people that care and fight for better outcomes for it. Both days of this event will be centered on the West 7th Street Bridge, the location of the first United Neighbors community-painted mural across I-95.  

One of this year’s lead organizers, April Paglisassotti of Cornerstone West CDC/West Side Grows Together, explains, “Today, through the celebration of the ten years of this event, we highlight the bright futures of our community by acknowledging our past and marching forward together.” 

Attendees will have the opportunity to join their neighbors in both advocacy and togetherness during the celebration where local acts such as Ghetto Songbird, Young Seda, Wilmington Children’s Chorus, Seylin Abarca, The Underground Kids, Dynamic Divas, and young emerging talent from the Teen Warehouse will be performing.  Additionally, they will be able to get to speak with elected officials, local special interest groups, and connect with community resources, services, and advocacy groups where they can extend what is traditionally a “day of service” into year-round engagement.

In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” Dr. King wrote, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” 

This program is partially funded by a grant from the Delaware Humanities, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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West Side Grows Together is a coalition of residents, businesses, churches, and local leadership in the West Side of Wilmington, Delaware, working together to transform & strengthen their community.  Follow West Side Grows Together on the Web, Facebook & Instagram for more information and program updates.