OXFORD — Granville County’s annual event to honor the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will be held virtually Monday.

Each year, Granville County’s Human Relations Commission organizes and hosts a fellowship breakfast that brings community members together to celebrate diversity, as well as the legacy of the late civil rights leader.

This year’s event was prerecorded and will be made available on Monday, Jan. 18 (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day) on Granville County’s local government channel, Spectrum Channel 17. Video segments will also be posted to the Granville County Government website and social media.

“For 2021, we wanted to ensure that the message of fellowship and unity was carried forward, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Rev. John Gooch, the commissioner’s chair. “Although the means of conveying that message is different, the spirit of the event remains the same. We thank everyone who helped make this possible.”

The program will include first-place winners of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. essay contest, with Karissa Birdine of Butner Stem Middle School and Haley Erexson of Granville Central High School reading their award-winning essays aloud.

Keynote speaker is Jeannette Paschal, the senior pastor of United Christian Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church of Oxford. Musical selections are provided by the Mary Potter Community Choir. Members of the Human Relations Commission are also a part of the program, providing remarks.

To access the video, residents who have service through Spectrum cable television can tune in to Channel 17, listed as the “Community Calendar” in the program guide, from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. on Jan. 18.

The video will be broadcast as a continuous loop that will be aired throughout the day.

Those wishing to view portions of the video online should visit http://www.granvillecounty.org and follow prompts to lead them to the posted segments, or visit the Granville County Government Facebook page.

The Human Relations Commission thanks the George C. Shaw Museum and the Granville County Historical Society Museum, both of Oxford, for providing the venue and backdrops for the videotaped segments.