ELIZABETHTOWN — One Bladen County resident is earning his name this next weekend.

Fletcher Collins, known to most as Big Show, owner of Big Show Auto and president of Dedicated Soulz Motorcycle Club, is hosting the fifth annual Unity in the Community on Jan. 13-16. A weekend-long event this year, the effort is meant to bring people together in honor of the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.

“Dr. King didn’t do what he did for a certain race — he did it for everybody, because love has no color,” Collins said. “We’ll have black riders, white riders, Latino riders, Indian riders — and once we ride, then fellowship and enjoy one another, we see that we can be united, and if we can do it this one day, we can do it 365 days of the year.”

Normally a two-day event, this year’s festivities have expanded to a four-day weekend at the request, Collins said, of out-of-towners.

On Friday at noon, a kick-off to the weekend’s celebration will be held. Calling it a Meet and Greet, Fletcher said the goal is to bring people together.

A unification motorcycle ride will take place Saturday. Participants will gather at Collins’ business on N.C. 87, ride down the bypass to N.C. 11, go across 74/76 to N.C. 211, then turn on U.S. 701, before coming back to the shop. Upon returning around noon, a block party will take place.

“My whole hope and plan is to let people know that right here in Bladen County, we have nothing but love,” said Collins. “I want to put Elizabethtown on the map and have the biggest MLK weekend in the world. I want people to know Bladen County is where they need to come if they want to have the biggest, greatest, drama-free weekend.”

Sunday will be a time for seafood lovers to unite. At 6 p.m. the car lot will become the site of a Seafood and Oyster Bonfire Bash. Crab legs, shrimp, and oysters will be served around a bonfire, all free to the public.

“We don’t charge for anything,” Collins said. “It’s just for community.”

Monday, dubbed “Main Event Monday” by Collins, Elizabethtown’s 29th annual MLK parade will take place in downtown Elizabethtown. More than 100 community groups, marching bands, step teams, drill teams, queens and kings, civic groups, and elected officials will gather at 805 W. Broad St. at 9 a.m. Participants will head east on Broad Street, turn on Poplar Street and head south, finishing their promenade in the Fresh Foods parking lot. The day’s grand marshal will be Bladen County Human Resources Director Shonteia Keaton.

Street vendors will be on site, and the parade is sponsored by the West Bladen NAACP.

“I have grandkids … and you have to show them in a positive way about leadership,” said Arthur Bullock, MLK Parade chairman. “They can read about it, but this parade is about showing them how we can work together, have love for one another, and have leadership roles.”

Following the parade, a fellowship meal will be served Big Show Auto Sales. While free finger foods will be handed out all weekend, and seafood will be served Sunday gratis, Collins called Monday’s meal “the big one.”

“We’ll have one or two or three hogs cooking, fried chicken, grilled chicken, pots of chicken and rice, collards, potato salad, mac and cheese — I mean, we have the works,” he said.

Collins stressed that the “whole entire world” is invited to the weekend’s events, nothing at his shop requires advance registration or tickets, and everything is free.

For questions about Unity in the Community, call 910-391-6009. For information about the parade, call 910-645-4995.

Chrysta Carroll can be reached by calling 910-862-4163.

Events centered around MLK Jr. Day in Elizabethtown

By Chrysta Carroll

ccarroll@civitasmedia.com