TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Organizers of Tampa’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. parade have decided to delay the 2021 parade. It was originally set to take place in January, but will now be held on June 19, 2021, at 12 p.m.
The Parade foundation made the decision in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that’s impacting a lot of Bay Area events, like Gasparilla.
The new date is pushed back to the celebration known as Juneteenth.
More than 155 years ago, Major General Gordon Granger of the Union Army arrived in Galveston, Texas and informed slaves they were free. The day would go down in history as “Juneteenth,” which is “the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States,” according to Juneteenth.com.
The holiday, which is celebrated annually on June 19, is a portmanteau that gets its name from the combination of June and Nineteen.
St. Petersburg city officials are still in the process of deciding what to do about their event.
