The drums started at the Community Center just after 10 a.m., a deep, steady pulse that you could feel in your sternum before you could hear the melody. By the time the procession turned onto H Street, the line of marchers stretched back three blocks, bundled in rain jackets and wool hats, breath hanging in the 44-degree air. The rain held off. Barely.

An estimated 400 people marched to the Arcata Plaza on Monday morning for the 28th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration, organized by the Humboldt County Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Committee. Organizer Patricia Williams said it was the largest turnout she’s seen in the event’s history. “We had maybe 200 last year. The year before that, maybe 150. Something shifted.”

The march route ran from the Arcata Community Center south along H Street, past the Co-op and the Tin Can Mailman, to the Plaza, where a stage and sound system waited under the statue of William McKinley’s empty pedestal. (The statue was removed in 2021. The pedestal remains, covered now in stickers and lichen.)

Voices from the stage

Reverend Anthony Davis of the First Baptist Church in Eureka opened the program. He spoke about King’s 1967 speech at Stanford, the one about the “fierce urgency of now,” and connected it to housing insecurity on the North Coast. His voice cracked once and he let it. Nobody looked away.

“Dr. King talked about the check that came back marked insufficient funds,” Davis said. “Well, I know people in this county whose rent check comes back insufficient every single month. And they work. They work hard.”

HSU professor emerita Dr. Lorna Bryant followed with a reading from King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” She read the passage about the “white moderate” slowly, pausing between sentences, and the crowd was quiet enough to hear the pigeons on the roof of the Jacoby’s Storehouse.

Twelve-year-old Marcus Jeffries from Sunny Brae Middle School read an original poem. He was nervous. His hands shook holding the paper. The poem was about his grandmother, who grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana, and moved to Humboldt County in 1988. When he finished, the applause was enormous, and he grinned and looked at someone in the front row, presumably the grandmother.

Community tables

The Plaza was ringed with tables from local organizations. The NAACP Humboldt chapter handed out voter registration forms. CASA of Humboldt had information about volunteer opportunities. Centro del Pueblo offered bilingual literature on immigrant rights resources. The Arcata Food Endeavor served free soup from two enormous pots that smelled like cumin and roasted tomato.

Betty Fong, who has run the food table at the MLK Day celebration for fourteen years, said they went through 20 gallons of soup by noon. “We made extra this year because Patricia told us to expect more people. Still almost ran out.”

The Humboldt Cannabis Equity Alliance had a table near the northeast corner of the Plaza, sharing information about their mentorship program for equity-license applicants. Program coordinator DeShawn Mitchell said three of their mentees received provisional licenses in 2025. “This is what equity looks like. Not a press release. A person with a license who didn’t have one before.”

Why the turnout

Williams attributed the larger crowd to a combination of factors. The committee expanded its outreach this year, partnering with HSU, College of the Redwoods, and several churches in Eureka and Fortuna. Social media promotion started in early December instead of the usual first week of January.

But she also pointed to something less tangible. “People are looking for connection right now. I think they’re looking for a reason to stand next to each other and believe in something.”

The event wrapped around 12:30 p.m. with a group rendition of “We Shall Overcome,” led by the Arcata Interfaith Gospel Choir. The singing was uneven and beautiful, 400 voices overlapping in the cold, wet air of the Plaza.

Marcus Jeffries and his grandmother were still there at the end, standing near the food table, sharing a cup of soup.