Note: this story has been updated to reflect additional information from organizers. Apologies for any confusion. – KtE

In normal times, tomorrow afternoon would be an opportunity for local residents to gather and celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the official holiday with a stroll down Main Street, and then stick around for a ceremony in Holloway Park in front of Polk County Courthouse No. 2.

For the past 15 years, this is the way that School Board member and Executive Director Bernard Morgan and Founder and wife Letitia planned it and how the event has gone – including refreshments and chili at the Turner Street Center.

Some years it has been freezing cold, and others a more pleasant mild. Yet during all that time, every year participants have gathered and walked.

This year, the tradition is being flipped on its head because of COVID-19, and organizers have moved to a Drive-in service for 2021.

In a flyer provided to Polk.Today, plans for how the service will be run this year include participants displaying a Civil Rights leader, honor a victim of police violence over the past years, or their own children in celebration of accomplishments on their cars.

People are asked to come gather in the parking lot of Friendship Baptist Church before driving to Holloway Park on main Street in Cedartown and take part in a livestream experience for a service while parked around the park.

Refreshments will not be available this year, but t-shirts, a water and hand warmers will be given out.

Check back for more coverage of the event tomorrow afternoon.