24th Annual Dr. King National Holiday Gospel Festival

Rev. Spencer Gibson and the Integrity Singers from Peoria perform in the 2013 Gospel Festival.

January 2, 2014

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.— The 24th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Gospel Festival will be held on Monday, January 20 at Illinois Wesleyan University. The event, which is free and open to the public, will run from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Westbrook Auditorium of Presser Hall (1210 Park St., Bloomington).

Illinois Wesleyan President Richard F. Wilson as well as The Honorable Tari Renner, Mayor of the City of Bloomington will welcome the audience and participants.

The celebration honors the birth of civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., and will include performances by The United Gospel Singers of Bloomington-Normal Mass Choir, The Hour of Deliverance Youth Choir, Crosswinds, Praise on Purpose (POPS) and Gayles Baptist Church Praise Dance and Choir.

Also on the program will be The Fantastic Jones Family, Mt. Pisgah Sunbeam Choir, Mt. Pisgah Adult Choir, Union Missionary Baptist Church Junior Gospel Quartet, Union Baptist Adult Choir, Loving Missionary Baptist Church and many other speakers and performers.

The Gospel Festival was founded in 1991 by the late Corine Sims, as a joint effort with Illinois Wesleyan and the United Community Gospel Singers of Bloomington-Normal. King spoke twice at the University, once in 1961 before his famous "March on Washington" speech, and again in 1966, after he became the youngest man to win a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts of non-violence protest in the Civil Rights Movement.

For additional information about the festival, or to make arrangements for persons with disabilities requiring any auxiliary aids, services, or special arrangements, contact Darcy L. Greder, associate dean of Student Affairs/Co- Curriculum Programming at (309) 556-3111 or Barbara Sims-Malone, president of the United Community Gospel Singers of Bloomington-Normal at (309) 706-6638.

Contact: Sherry Wallace, (309) 556-3181