Houston celebrates MLK Day with two competing parades

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Houston celebrates the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with two competing parades. It's been going on for quite a few years, but there will be two competing parades relatively close to each other at the exact same time.

The 21st Annual MLK Grand Parade started at 10:00am in midtown Houston. The parade originated at San Jacinto and Elgin.

At the same time, the Black Heritage Society's 37th Annual "Original" MLK Birthday Parade started in downtown Houston at Minute Maid Park.

Both parades honor the legacy and memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. According to the King Center in Atlanta, this holiday is to remember the values of courage, truth, justice, compassion, dignity, humility and service championed by the civil rights leader.

"On this holiday, we commemorate the universal, unconditional love, forgiveness and nonviolence that empowered his revolutionary spirit," writes the King Center.

The MLK holiday was signed into federal law by Pres. Ronald Reagan in 1983.