The atmosphere at Monday's parade celebrating the birth and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of unity, fellowship and pure happiness as people marched and sang along Statesboro's main streets.

Sponsored by the Bulloch County Branch of the NAACP and its president, Pearl Brown, the parade, centered around the theme "One Nation, Under God, Working Together," featured church groups, military and school bands, floats and beauty queens. It also boasted a large number of exquisitely restored and customized cars, with their engines revving and chrome wheel spokes catching the afternoon light as spectators called from the sidewalks.

Many floats featured a young man standing at a podium, portraying King himself. Others displayed large color images of the civil rights activist.

Vendors set up tables to offer candy apples, bags of boiled peanuts and baked goods for sale. The streets filled with laughter and talk between neighbors.

Larry Clark sat watching as his daughter Kadyn, 7, skillfully made her hoverboard dance on the sidewalk. He said he attended the parade as a way to "support the community."

If not for King, "we wouldn't be where we are today," he said. "This is thanks for his making the steps that he did" in promoting unity between all men.

The diversity of those present Monday was evidence of that unity, with people of all races both participating in the parade as well as standing by to enjoy the scene.

Tyler Goodman, 17, and a group of his friends gathered for the parade, joking with one another as they waited for it to start. When asked what King's legacy meant to him, Goodman said, "peace, happiness, coming together as a community."

His friend Legend McLain, also 17, echoed Goodman's sentiments, adding, "We came together as one because of his dream."

Parents, friends and neighbors called out to those marching past, and some even joined in. Many walking in the parade handed out fliers and invitations to future public events and tossed candy to children, who scrambled for a stray lollipop or peppermint that landed in the street. Several groups sang spirituals as they marched.

Annie McBride, whose son, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Chester McBride, was killed on duty while serving in Afghanistan Dec. 21, 2015, stood watching the parade turn from North Main to West Main Street as it meandered toward MLK Drive.

"This is about all of us getting together as family - white, black, all of us," she said. "I love to see it, because God made all of us."

Herald reporter Holli Deal Saxon may be reached at (912) 489-9414.