Walt Butler has no plans to decelerate.
“Should you relaxation an excessive amount of, you simply develop into torpid,” the Pasadena sports activities icon mentioned whereas handing out customized T-shirts to children at his sales space on the 2026 Black Historical past Competition on Saturday. And the 84-year-old has a lot extra he needs to do.
“We simply have to do extra for others,” Butler mentioned. “Among the issues that I need to do is attempt to assist little children to develop into extra economically inclined to handle their very own cash. Cease losing all of it and search for the longer term. These knucklehead children, they’re our future, .”
Filicia Flot, left, and her husband Derrick with grandson RJ Silva on the forty fourth Black Historical past Month Competition in Pasadena.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Occasions)
The grand marshal of the pageant, Butler, who misplaced his longtime house in Altadena in final 12 months’s Eaton hearth, embodies the occasion’s theme of passing the baton to the subsequent technology. He’s identified in the neighborhood each for his highschool and school track-and-field profession, in addition to his work advocating for studying and serving to these in want. In between chatting up attendees who’d alternately rib him for his age and name him “an ideal function mannequin,” Butler spoke about his hope of getting extra children to attend church frequently and to assist the native unhoused neighborhood.
“Individuals want … an opportunity to offer [themselves] a good likelihood,” Butler mentioned. “And if we give ourselves a good likelihood, we now have much less time to mistreat others.”
Held at Robinson Park in Pasadena, the forty fourth Black Historical past Competition was a celebration of neighborhood and resilience as folks proceed to recuperate and transfer ahead within the aftermath of final 12 months’s Eaton hearth, based on town’s announcement.
Musical performances on the leisure stage stored issues full of life. There have been additionally moments of recognition for figures such because the Rev. Jesse Jackson and his civil rights advocacy, together with his push to combine the management of the Event of Roses. Jackson died Feb. 17 at age 84.
Candace Lacy, with Victory Bible Church, sings on the 2026 Black Historical past Competition in in Pasadena.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Occasions)
Among the many cubicles for distributors, public service organizations and libraries had been these devoted to educating and celebrating native Black historical past, reminiscent of “Amplify,” an oral historical past documentary about these displaced by the development of the 710 Freeway.
Basirah Olawale, a Pasadena resident attending the pageant for the primary time, mentioned she needed to convey her younger youngsters to the occasion to “expose them to extra of our tradition.”
“Illustration” is essential, she added.
“It’s good to be in a spot the place we’re celebrating Black Historical past Month and be with the neighborhood,” mentioned Shanika Honeycutt, one other first-time attendee.
