Hundreds gather to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. in Ardmore Monday

Hundreds of people came out to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Ardmore Monday.

The parade featured several organizations, the Ardmore High School marching band and horse riders.

A gathering after the parade at the HFV Wilson community center featured songs from the MLK youth mass choir, prayer and a proclamation from Ardmore's vice-mayor.

Pastor Gary Cooper addressed the audience with a message of loving one another and doing your part.

“Martin Luther King Day, to me, means a coming together of people," Cooper said. “A lot of my white friends will say ‘Well, that’s a black holiday, right?’ No, it’s not a black holiday. We tend to think King was fighting just for black people, but he wasn’t. He said ‘I have a day. I have a dream when all of God’s people black men, white men, Jews, Gentiles, Protestants, Catholics, will be able to join in in that old Negro song, that old Negro spiritual free at last free at last. Thank God almighty, we’re free at last.' So that’s that it means to me. We are free to live in this world as God created it to be, equal. We may not all be identical, but we are all equal.”