MLK Park bust to be rededicated Saturday at opening of new exhibit

A rededication ceremony will be held Saturday for the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial located in the Olmsted Park that bears his name.

There will be an MLK program at 2 p.m. in Calvary Baptist Church, 1184 Genesee St., followed by the rededication at the Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute Plaza in the park and the opening of the new exhibit “Making of a Monument” in the park’s shelter house.

The bronze sculpture was unveiled in October 1983 and has become one of Buffalo’s most eye-catching and controversial public sculptures. It rests on a crescent-shaped concrete and stone plaza surrounded by grass landscaping, evergreens and wooden benches. Excerpts from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech were cut into the stone.

Critics complain that it is not an exact likeness, while those who commissioned it say it was never meant to be. African American artist John Wilson, who was 92 when he died in 2015, created the $300,000 artwork. He also created a bust of King that stands in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C.

Saturday’s events are open to the public.

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