A week-long celebration honoring the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. begins today with a concert, a birthday party and a “Love Train” freedom march.

The “Love Train” will begin at 11:30 a.m. from two different locations, the Design College and Lagomarcino Hall. The march will parade through a series of on-campus buildings en route to the Memorial Union.

“[The march] will stop at different stations to pick up people of all color and all nationalities,” said Lenola Allen-Sommerville, chairwoman of the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Celebration Committee. “This is a march for freedom and a march of celebration.”

The march will proceed through Marston, Beardshear, Carver, MacKay, Catt and Curtiss Halls.

“Music and hot drinks will be provided in each station along the way , as well as information about Dr. King,” said Pat Miller, director of Committee on Lectures.

During the stops in Beardshear and Curtiss, the “Love Train” will pick up President Martin Jischke and Vice President of Student Affairs Thomas Hill.

Allen-Sommerville said the birthday party, which is being held on what would be King’s 70th birthday, will begin at 12:15 p.m. with remarks from Jischke, Hill and Government of the Student Body President Bryan Burkhardt.

The ISU Jazz Choir, the New Beginnings Gospel Choir and Iowa State senior Edwin Grider also will perform for the audience.

“The music is always really wonderful and a highlight of the celebration,” Miller said.

A birthday cake donated by the Memorial Union also will be a part of the festivities.

The celebration continues into next week with a roundtable/lunch discussion Monday in the Wilson Hall, and a keynote speaker at 8 p.m. Thursday in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union.

The roundtable discussion on social change with Jeff Weiss and Rev. Vaughn Hawkins from Des Moines is being held in the residence halls to make it convenient for students, Miller said.

“Free box lunches will begin at 11:30 a.m. with the discussion following until 2 p.m.,” Miller said. “Those that do not live in the residence halls are welcome to attend.”

The keynote speaker, Dorothy Cotton, was the only female member of King’s executive staff. Together with King, she worked as the education director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, according to a press release.

Aside from her speech titled, “Lessons Learned from the Past: Visions for the Future,” Cotton also will meet with students in the African American Studies program during the day, Miller said.

While King’s actual birthday is today, the holiday is celebrated nationwide on Monday. University offices will be closed and classes are canceled.

“A number of people think that [Monday] is a day off, but it is not a day off,” Allen-Sommerville said. “It is a day to come together and focus on things.”