A parade goer in St. Petersburg, Florida on Jan. 15, 2025. Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Of all the holiday celebrations happening in Tampa Bay this weekend, St. Petersburg’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade tops them all.

The parade, to mark what would’ve been the iconic activist’s 96th birthday, happens on Monday and covers about 1.5-miles of St. Petersburg’s 1st Ave. S starting at 11 a.m.

The festivities get started on Friday, however, with a banquet at the Hilton on Lake Carillon Drive and continue with the Sunday MLK band showcase at Gibbs High School kicking off at 4 p.m. (Florida A&M, Fort Valley State and Albany State are among the confirmed bands).

St. Petersburg’s MLK Dream Big Weekend happens at multiple venues from Friday-Monday, Jan. 17-20.

This article appears in Jan 16-22, 2025.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...