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While the annual celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life has been canceled for January 2021, organizers are hoping to combine it with another event in February.

For more than 30 years, the Winchester Unity Committee organized an event on the civil rights pioneer’s birthday including speakers, breakfast and a march through downtown Winchester.

Health concerns from the continuing COVID-19 pandemic led to the decision, Committee President Deatra Newell said.

The event, though, may be incorporated into Black History Month events in February.

“We’re trying to do something that keeps everyone safe and commemorate the life of Martin Luther King,” Newell said. “Hopefully, by the first of the year we will have a better idea of what it will look like.”

Many of the group’s supporters, she said, are older and part of the most vulnerable group to the coronavirus.

“Hopefully in January, we’ll know more,” she said