Moore County will celebrate the Martin Luther King Jr. Day in grand fashion with three days of events.

The celebration begins at 8 a.m. Saturday with the second Martin Luther King Jr. memorial breakfast at the Days Inn on U.S. 1 in Southern Pines.

The Rev. Jason Scott will be the guest speaker. Rose Highland-Sharpe will receive the "Drum Major Award." Sharpe was selected for the award for her positive contributions to the spiritual, educational, economic and social growth in Moore County by virtue of her television and radio broadcasts and her volunteer work.

Tickets for the breakfast are $12 per person. To purchase tickets, call Simon Funeral Home, (910) 692-3701; Birtha Shaw (910) 692-3294; or Joyce Jackson, (910) 692-6238.

The annual observance service will be held at 5:30 p.m. Sunday in H.A. Wilson Auditorium at Southern Pines Primary School. Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones will be the guest speaker. The evening is sponsored by the Sandhills Fellowship of Churches.

The celebration continues Monday, the national holiday, with the annual Martin Luther King Day March, which starts at 11 a.m. at the corner of South West Broad Street and East New York Avenue at Downtown Southern Pines Park. As in past years, the march will proceed along Broad Street into downtown Southern Pines, cross the railroad tracks and proceed back up Broad Street and turn right onto Pennsylvania Avenue. The march will travel up Pennsylvania and end at Southern Pines Primary.

Following the march, a Martin Luther King Day observance program will be presented by the Moore County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in the Southern Pines Primary School auditorium. Partnering with the NAACP of Moore County is the Minority Male Mentoring Program of Sandhills Community College.

"We are looking forward to having a great speaker and a great program," said O'Linda Gillis, president of the local NAACP.

Schedule to begin at 12:15 p.m., the program will feature guest speaker Kenneth Lewis, an attorney and U.S. Senate candidate, the Sandhills Choir and a performance by local youth.

Contact Tom Embrey at (910) 693-2484 or by e-mail at tembrey@thepilot.com.