MLK Holiday Events

The local observances of the Martin Luther King Junior national holiday will begin with the annual Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce "I have a Dream" BreakfastMonday morning. The event, which is also hosted by the Rochester chapter of the NAACP, will get underway at 7:30 AM at the Kahler Grand Hotel.

The keynote speaker this year is Linda Keene. The CEO of the Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys serves more than 40,000 girls in 49 counties across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Northern Iowa. Local youth will gather at the government center at 10 AM to make posters for the annual Martin Luther King Day rally, which will begin at 11:45 AM and will be followed by a march through downtown Rochester. The procession will end at the Kahler Grand Hotel, where the public is invited to attend a commemorative celebration and birthday party for the slain civil rights leader starting at 1 PM.

The State of Minnesota’s official commemoration of the holiday will take place the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul. Gov. Mark Dayton will be among the speakers at the event, which will begin at 11 AM following a March from the St. Paul Cathedral to the History Center.. The theme for the state's official observance of the holiday is, "Lifting Every Voice, Dreaming as We Strive."