Parade Profile


National Parade Profile

NATIONAL MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. PARADE, BATTLE OF BANDS &
DRUM LINE EXTRAVAGANZA PROFILE

Official Name:
National Martin Luther King, Jr. Drum Major for Justice Parade, Battle of the Bands & Drum Line Extravaganza

Founded:
November 15, 1985; The first parade was January 20, 1986 and coincided with the first observance of the Federal King Holiday as signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on Nov. 3, 1983.

Years of Operation:
27 years come January 13-16, 2012

27th Anniversary:
Sunday, January 15 – Monday, January 16, 2012

Average Attendance:
100,000

Founders:
  • Sevell Carescale Brown, III
  • Darryl Lamont Brown, Sr.

National Coordinator/ Producer:
Sevell Carescale Brown, III

Organizers:
Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday & Legacy Association, Inc.
(President, Sevell C. Brown, III)

Host City:
St. Petersburg, Florida

St. Petersburg:
  • A peninsular city, surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico on 3 sides
  • Located mid west coast of Florida
  • 25 miles of beaches
  • Population of 248,232
  • Ranked 70 largest city in America – 59.2 square miles
  • The “Sunshine City of the Sunshine State” warm year round
  • Separated from Tampa, FL by 7 mile Howard Franklin Bridge

Pinellas County:
  • Population of 921,495
  • 34.5 miles in length
  • 15 miles in width
  • Recognized as the most densely populated county in Florida
  • 5th largest school system in Nation, 169,123 school children
  • 4,673,896 tourists visited in 2002

City Support:
By Resolutions of Council and Mayor’s Office all crowd control related support is provided.

MLK TASK FORCE:
City formed the St. Petersburg Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Parade & Battle of Bands TASK FORCE upon request of organizer to plan all logistics connected to the events. Representatives from every City department that the parade and festival impact are represented on the TASK FORCE.

Co-Chairs:
  • Mr. Clarence Scott, III, CPRP, Leisure & Community Services Administrator, City of St. Petersburg
  • Sevell C. Brown, III, National Coordinator

Battle of Bands Time:
4:00 – 7:30 p.m. Sunday, January 15, 2012

Stadium Capacity:
30,000 – Tropicana Field Dome Stadium – Home of the Tampa Bay Rays Baseball (Home Site of MLK Battle of the Bands)

Parade Time:
11:00 AM – 2:15 PM (3 hours long) Monday, Jan. 16, 2011

Parade Route:
Begins at 3rd Avenue South and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Street – proceeds north to Central Avenue – turns east and proceeds to Bayshore Drive, buttressing the Gulf of Mexico – turns north and proceeds
to 5th Avenue north, directly in front of the Vinoy Renaissance Resort Hotel & Condominiums in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida – turns east and proceeds to the South Vinoy Park and terminates.

Length of Parade:
1.3 miles

Media Coverage:
4 million viewers in 5 county area

THE GOALS of the MLK Battle of Bands Extravaganza are to:
1.
Commemorate Dr. King’s birthday in education and music in a monumental manner;
2.
Instill in young people an appreciation of his legacy of non violence;
3.
Encourage young people to graduate from high school and attend post secondary institutions.
4.
Provide scholarship assistance to participating university band members to defray their costs and assure the completion of their education and timely graduation.
5.
Institutionalize the largest instrumental educational platform for university band directors to directly interface with high school band directors and their prize students to screen, audition and recruit them as potential collegiate freshman to assure their matriculation to the collegiate or university ranks for the furtherance of their education and development as master academicians.
6.
Last. but most importantly, provide an international stage for the preservation of the revered High or Knee Steppers Art Form Marching Style as invented, perfected and institutionalized by African American university band directors that is America’s greatest contribution to the world in the sphere of music and education.