Despite the controversy surrounding Brett Reese, the Greeley school board member and radio station owner whose broadcasts have been criticizing the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., Monday was nevertheless peaceful and inspiring in the northern Colorado city. Young and old marched in what turned out to be Greeley’s largest-ever celebration of MLK, writes the Tribune. Hundreds gathered, including the Reverend Al Slighter, a longtime participant in the city’s MLK events, who knew King.

For his part, Reese claimed he would not attend because of more death threats against his family, according to a separate Tribune article, with the latest Trib report indicating that he will discontinue the broadcasts. “It’s really too bad that is the image of Greeley projected to the public,” Greeley resident Judy Knapp tells the Denver Post, adding that she thinks Reese “only speaks for a very small minority in this city.”

Back in Denver, 25 members of the University of Denver’s Black Student Alliance joined about 40,000 people in Denver’s annual Marade, notes the Clarion. And in Fort Collins, the holiday gave education advocates a platform to rally for the Beattie Elementary School Bighorn, which they consider an “endangered” species after Poudre School District officials recommended closing the neighborhood elementary school to help the cash-strapped district save money, reports the Coloradoan.