Patrick Simmons, Executive Director of the Waycross Convention and Visitors Bureau for the City of Waycross, will serve as Grand Marshal for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Parade on Monday.
The procession for the celebration of the former Civil Rights leader’s birthday begins at noon at the Head Start headquarters on McDonald Street. It will continue into downtown on Tebeau Street before concluding at Pernell Roberts Memorial Park.
Simmons, a Waycross native, is joined by Ware County High School student Linden “Josean” Butler as Junior Grand Marshal.
As CVB director, Simmons works daily to assist the area’s local tourist attractions and events as well as other organizations to increase tourism in the Waycross-Ware County area. He also maintains the city’s social media accounts and webpage.
Before taking over his current role in 2020, Simmons was the manager of the Waycross Career Center with Department of Labor for more than a decade. He currently is chairman of the board for Okefenokee Alliance for the Homeless and Ware Children’s Initiative, and former chairman of the Waycross-Ware County Chamber of Commerce as well as former chairman of Unison Behavioral Health Board of Directors.
The Grand Marshal holds an MBA from Georgia Southern University and graduate certificate in Entrepreneurship from Keller Graduate School of Management.
Simmons also is a certified personal trainer at Sweat Fitness, and a member of Light of the World Ministries. He and his wife, Sarah, are parents to Patrick,Peyton, Paisley, Nick and Sky Simmons, and grandparents to grandson, Kingstyn “Ace” Simmons.
Butler, 16, was born in Jesup, but has been raised in Waycross by parents, LaKenyona Price and Lendy Butler. He is a student at Ware County High School where he’s a manager for the state championship football team, and says he “loves serving people and the community.”
The youth also assists his grandfather in various areas of his church, serving on its youth usher board and assisting with leading services on Youth Sunday. He enjoys helping others with their lawn care, and for the past three years as worked at Harrington Funeral Home.
The experience he’s gained at Harrington has him interested in attending the College of Funeral Services after graduate from high school with a goal of owning his own mortuary in the future.
