No matter who you are or what you believe in, all are welcome to join Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday celebration this Sunday.

The event will take place starting at 3:30 p.m. at the House of Prayer, located at 620 West Erin Park Road in Oak Harbor, and will be hosted by a group of Whidbey churches known as the Unity Fellowship.

The celebration will feature singing, dancing, a skit that educates on the impact of the civil rights leader and a guest speaker, Jaqueline Hughes, who oversees the office of equity at Western Washington University.

One of the people spearheading the event, Pastor Fannie Dean, said she has been questioned several times about the need for such an event to happen every year.

Dean worries about the world growing more divided, becoming a place where people can be shunned for their opinions. Being a victim of various crimes for the color of her skin, she is familiar with how harmful hate can be and believes people need to set their differences aside and come together as a strong community in the face of adversity.

Devotees Christopher Ericson, Wismine D’Avilar and Nicole Rice said King wanted to bring people and children of all backgrounds to hold hands and walk on the same path.

“It’s a day for everybody, for all people, and to show love and respect to all others and ourselves,” said Ericson, who recently joined Mission Ministry. “When those people with hate in their heart find you — because every once in a while they will find you — just remember, just like Dr. King said, ‘Let no man pull you down so low as to hate him.’”