The 2025 King Celebration in Gainesville will again feature several events organized by the Martin Luther King Jr. Commission of Florida.
The highlight of the 41 st Anniversary King Celebration ’25 Activities will be the 40 th annual Hall of Fame Gala to be held Saturday, beginning with a networking reception at 5:30 p.m. followed by a dinner and social.
The keynote speaker will be Cayden Parker , a senior at Santa Fe High School and recipient of this year’s Edna M. Hart Keeper of the Dream Scholarship. This year’s Hall of Fame inductee will be Albert White, who has been a community activist in Gainesville and Alachua County for more than 50 years.
The theme for this year’s King Celebration locally is “A Resilient People: We’re Not Going Back!”
The significance of the theme is that there are a lot of people who think the old way of doing things is still OK, when in reality, the fight for equality is far from over, said Rodney Long, president and founder of the King Commission.