Community leaders in the Bronx gathered Monday to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

They joined congregants during a ceremony at the Trinity Baptist Church on East 61st Street.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. was on hand to celebrate King's life and legacy.

"We continue to see King's spirit," Diaz says. "We are here to celebrate his life, but to also continue his legacy."

Some attendees, like Esther Bowie, have been coming to the annual celebration for decades. She says she shook King's hand in the 1960s and even got his autograph.

Martha Battle, who's been an usher for the event since the 1977, says it must live on for generations to come.