As 100 members of the Spirit of Troy marched down Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on Monday, some of them didn’t just stay in line.

The group — a combination of musicians, cheerleaders and dancers from USC’s Trojan Marching Band, Spirit Leaders and Song Leaders — broke from their ranks throughout the morning to spend time interacting with the audience: students took pictures, gave out high fives and ran through a stream of bubbles released into the street from dispensers.

“At one point, I literally forgot that I was in a parade,” said Madisyn Hill, a member of the Spirit Leaders and a sophomore majoring in psychology. “It’s just really nice to see smiles and [to be] able to put a smile on someone’s face.”

The annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade returned to South Central in full force Monday, coinciding with the federal holiday once again after being rescheduled last January due to the L.A. wildfires. Members of the Spirit of Troy made the 3-mile trek to Leimert Park to participate in the parade for the fourth consecutive year.

Though under new management this year — led by the Los Angeles Sentinel and its publisher, Bakewell Media — the festivities went on. More than 180 groups participated, parade organizers told The LA Local, including marching bands, faith-based organizations and members of the Divine Nine — a group of historically Black fraternities and sororities.

Organizers planned for the parade to conclude in Leimert Park, where the annual Freedom Festival takes place in the afternoon. However, the festival got cut short on Monday after the Los Angeles Police Department was deployed to the area to respond to a stabbing just before 2 p.m., according to KTLA. A 40-year-old man had been stabbed, KTLA reported, and ABC7 reported that an officer was reportedly assaulted later that afternoon as several fights broke out.

At the parade earlier that day, floats and classic cars carried everyone from political figures to celebrities and local icons.

A flowery float blasting Kendrick Lamar’s music carried a handful of L.A. city councilmembers and community leaders: Heather Hutt, who represents Council District 10, where the parade took place; Curren Price Jr., who represents Council District 9, which includes USC’s University Park Campus; and Joe and Celia Ward-Wallace, founders of the community-oriented South LA Cafe chain. 

A crowd of people swarmed L.A. Mayor Karen Bass as she made her way through the parade route, with a mix of chants that emphasized people power. The event also featured Cedric the Entertainer, who served as the parade’s grand marshal.

The Spirit of Troy has made regular appearances at the parade since 2023. Dontay Douglas, the Trojan Marching Band’s associate director who helps organize the appearances, said the group usually brings roughly 80 students, apart from last year’s delayed parade.

When last year’s event finally took place on Feb. 17, students like Jasmine Ying, a sophomore majoring in journalism as well as East Asian languages and cultures, were no longer able to make it.

“I’ve been to that South L.A. area before, and it’s really nice there,” said Ying, who attended the parade on Monday as part of the marching band’s drumline. “It was nice to be able to do something that I was supposed to do a long time ago and never got a chance to.”

In between moments of celebrating the past were stark reminders of the present. From the parade’s first moments, a caravan of vehicles representing Black Lives Matter Los Angeles arrived bearing a large picture of Keith Porter Jr. 

Porter was a 43-year-old father of two who was shot and killed by an off-duty United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Northridge on New Year’s Eve, the Los Angeles Times reported. 

The L.A. Times reported that Porter had fired a gun into the air near his apartment complex, which led the agent to the scene to respond to what he suspected was an “active shooter situation,” the United States Department of Homeland Security wrote in a statement. Porter’s family and advocates believe the shooting was a hate crime, according to the L.A. Times, though no video of the altercation is available.

Further down the street, a group representing United Union Of Roofers, Waterproofers & Allied Workers Local 36 carried a massive banner that read, “The fascist Trump regime must go!” A smaller banner referenced Porter Jr. and Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on Jan. 7 while in her vehicle observing an ICE operation, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported.

As the parade wound down and large yellow vehicles began sweeping the streets, community members Jerry and Alveda Rising watched from their lawn chairs. They said that seeing camaraderie was among their favorite parts of the parade. The marching band of Compton High School was especially memorable, Jerry Rising said, because he graduated from there in 1980. Rising said he has attended the parade for nearly 40 years.

“When you think about the national holiday, it means a lot to the country,” Douglas said. “But for us to be right smack dab into the community, I think it’s very important that we show a face to the community for folks that may not be able to get to a football game or get a chance to see the band elsewhere.”