Las Vegas parade honors Martin Luther King Jr. Day — VIDEO

A crowd estimated in the tens of thousands packed Fourth Street in downtown Las Vegas on Monday to watch the 35th annual parade honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr.

Approximately 140 entries — marching bands, firetrucks, dance troupes, motorcycles and vehicles bearing dignitaries — slowly made their way from Charleston Boulevard to Ogden Avenue beginning at 10 a.m.

Like all good parades, much of the focus was on the kids, whether they formed part of a marching band, a dance group, or simply came to watch.

Cheyenne High School Principal Zachary Robbins boasted of the message conveyed by the 360 students from his North Las Vegas school who took part in the parade.

“When he (King) talked about equality, he meant equality for all. Not some, not segments, but all,” Robbins said. “Our Soundtrack of North Las Vegas Marching Band and our Desert Shield JROTC Battalion embody that diversity, and I’m just so proud of all of them.”

Equally proud was Latasha Swift, the mother of a Cheyenne High School senior marching with the school’s JROTC. “There she is,” Swift said. “There’s my baby.” Swift said she liked the structure and guidance her children have received from being part of the JROTC.

As for King, Swift had even higher praise: “Without his leadership and his foresight,” she said, “we wouldn’t be this far, we wouldn’t be united, we wouldn’t be able to stand here together — black, white, Mexican.

“And I know he’s smiling down right now.”

Using phrases such as “a time like this,” several who attended the parade alluded to heightened tensions about race relations and other issues brought to the forefront with President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in November.

“Everything that’s going on in the country calls even more for principles like (those espoused by Mahatma) Gandhi and Martin Luther King,” said actor Antonio Fargas, who served as parade ambassador and is known for his role as Huggy Bear on the 1970s television show “Starsky and Hutch.”

Nicole Hammond, the mother of six adopted foster children, echoed Fargas’ sentiment. “There’s a lot of tension in race relations,” she said. “There’s a lot of tension in socioeconomic relations between the poor and the rich, so Dr. King’s message of love, driving out hate, driving out injustice, driving out fear is needed more today than ever.”

Nicole and her husband, Brian, refer to their family as their “rainbow coalition.” The children range in age from 3 to 10 and represent a mix of races and ethnicities – Asian and black, Latino and black, and white and black. They came to the Hammonds with a range of issues, but the Hammonds said they never discriminated.

“It didn’t matter where they were from, what they had, or what their issues were, or what they looked like. None of that mattered, because we are all human,” Brian Hammond said. “We all deserve a fair chance. All these kids got a raw deal. They got a bad hand. It’s up to us to try help them make it right.”

“That,” Nicole Hammond said, “is what Dr. King’s message really is all about. It’s about giving people a chance.”

Another event honoring King took place Monday at Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, where park personnel worked alongside volunteers to plant trees and clean up the park. Located on a former cattle ranch, the Blue Diamond park encompasses more than 500 acres of desert trails, green picnic areas, and historical buildings.

Monday’s event, said park historian David Low, was “to honor the service that Martin Luther King rendered for all America. … He gave his all for the country that he was born in, and we try to honor that by encouraging people to walk in his footsteps and give a little back as well.”

Contact Lucy Hood at lhood@reviewjournal.com or 702 387-2904, Follow @lucyahood on Twitter.