Denver’s annual MLK Day ‘Marade’ followed its usual path, from City Park to Capitol Hill. It combined its usual elements of march and parade, demonstration and celebration. It featured many of the same speakers as previous years.
But something was different on a mild Jan. 19 morning among gathered Denverites. Even more than 2025, this year’s event was focused on President Donald Trump’s actions in office, especially related to immigration and legal controversies in the administration.
“When [former Colo. state representative] Wilma Webb named this…it was meant to be half march and half parade, A parade to celebrate, a march to demonstrate,” Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said. “I think that the King would say today, we must be much more focused on the demonstration than on the celebration, because there’s so much work to be done.”
2026 marks an end of an era for the Marade; Wilma and her husband, former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, due to their age, decided this would be their last year marching. They called the crowd to take more direct action with politicians, not just to celebrate King’s legacy.
Johnston was one of many local elected officials who attended to support the crowd. Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennett (D-CO), Representative Joe Neguse (D-2), Representative Jason Crow (D-6), and Colo. Attorney General Phil Weiser were just some of many.
“It’s an important opportunity for [the] community to rally together and show our support for fulfilling Dr King’s dream,” Neguse said. “And right now, more than ever, Dr King’s dream is under attack by this administration.”
Colorado MLK Commission Chair Dr. Vern L. Howard helped organize the event around the year’s theme, “I am the dream,” a play on the title of King’s most famous speech.
“It’s designed for folks to take a look at themselves,” Howard said. “Remember Dr. King said that the most pressing issue we have is, what are you doing for others?”
Locals Natalie Gentry and Donna Baker-Breningstall both attended, and while marching, became quick friends united around a shared goal.
“This march is especially important to me because of the threat to our democracy that exists right now,” Gentry said.
Baker-Breningstall was especially infuriated with the way Trump’s returning year went. She’s been to marches before, and she wants to continue her protests into 2026.
“2025 was an absolute abomination for our liberties,” she said. “It looks like it’s going to continue, and it’s even more important to have people coalesce to say, ‘this is not the way our country was founded, and we need to stay together.’”
Neguse was encouraged by thousands of people like Gentry and Baker-Breningstall who showed up to celebrate King.
“The turnout is incredible, and it’s a reminder that here in Colorado, our faith in Dr King’s dream remains undeterred,” he said.
King’s impact echoed throughout the day. Speakers mounted on trucks played his speeches. One speaker read a poem, imitating his cadence. Crow thinks it’s important to always preserve King’s ideals in these ways.
“Our country is under unprecedented assault, our democracy, our rule of law, everything that Dr. King served for and fought for, is under assault by this administration,” Crow said. “So now is our moment. It is our time to stand up and to be leaders for this nation, because fear is contagious, but so is courage.”
See moments from the Marade below.
-
Wilma (left) and Wellington Webb, organizers and keynote speakers at every Marade, announce that 2026 is their last year marching. They’ve been synonymous with the tradition for decades.
-
A line of elected officials watch the Webbs speak. From left: Representative Joe Neguse (D-2), Senator Michael Bennett (D-CO), Representative Jason Crow (D-6), and Denver Attorney General John Walsh.
-
Marade staffers applaud Senator John Hickenlooper’s (D-CO) speech.
-
Bennett encourages and praises the marchers for their attendance. “We are here because our job is supposed to be hard, not easy,” he said in his speech.
-
The crowd surrounds Crow as he speaks
-
Neguse tells the story of Claudette Colvin, a lesser-known civil rights activist from Montgomery, Ala. “There was no fortune waiting for Claudette Colvin, but she knew something that Dr King knew, which was that you did not need a title to make profound change in the United States of America,” Neguse said. “You don’t need honorifics.”
-
Crowd members applaud Neguse’s speech.
-
Colorado MLK Commission Chair Dr. Vern L. Howard shakes the hand of Colo. Senate President James Coleman and thanks him for his contributions to the event.
-
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston addresses the crowd, speaking about the significance of the name ‘Marade.”
-
A speaker makes a spirited address to the crowd.
-
Local police officers pose for photos underneath City Park’s MLK memorial before the march commences.
-
The drumline from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Early College brings music to the parade.
-
A group of pro-Palestine protesters lead the march, chanting call-and-responses.
-
One protester holds a model of the Statue of Liberty, in handcuffs, covering her face.
-
Members of the Denver Nuggets Dancers join the marchers on Colfax Ave.
-
A protester plays tunes alongside the march with a guitar, donning an “Abolish ICE” sign. The protest had very consistent anti-ICE messages.
-
Marchers hold a banner emblazoned with “SOMEONE WAS LYNCHED IN YOUR CITY.”
