Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $5.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
The city of Mesa and the Mesa-East Valley MLK Committee invite the community to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy on Monday, Jan. 16.
This year’s 25th-anniversary celebration theme is “What Are You Doing For Others?” The festivities in downtown Mesa include:
a parade, starting at 11 a.m., of community groups and organizations, businesses, churches, marching bands and East Valley cities.
the MLK Community Festival from noon to 4 p.m. at the Plaza at Mesa City Center, 56 E. Main St. with food, vendors, entertainment and a Kids Unity Corner with activities and crafts.
As part of the 25th anniversary, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Street will be dedicated during a ceremony that day at 8:30 a.m. at the Mesa Arts Center. The honorary street signs will be placed along Center Street between Brown Road and First Avenue to honor Mesa’s historic Washington-Escobedo Heritage Neighborhood, which had its roots during a time of segregation in the early 20th century. The signs will also celebrate Dr. King’s accomplishments as a civil rights icon. Similar Calle Cesar Chavez street signs were unveiled recently along a one-mile segment of Broadway Road between Mesa Drive and Stapley Drive to honor Cesar Chavez’s contributions to Mesa’s thriving Hispanic population.
Organizers of the parade are recruiting volunteers to participate in the parade. Volunteers must be at least 16 years of age. The deadline to register is Jan. 10 at signupgenius.com/go/20f0449afa829a0fc1-20231#/.
Mesa’s annual MLK celebrations were created after residents, in 1996, voted to establish a citywide holiday recognizing the leadership of Dr. King.
