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Earlier in the day, hundreds of people gathered at an event honoring the civil rights leader at the Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network headquarters in Harlem.

Sharpton hosted several politicians and community leaders at the annual King Day Public Policy forum.

Many of those attending gave speeches on civil rights, social justice, and the legacy of King.

"We won the battle of segregation," Sharpton said. "We can sleep in any hotel. We can buy coffee anywhere. The new problem is we can't afford it. You can check in, but you can't check out. We won the voting rights battle. Problem is getting them to count the votes right."

"In New York City, black males between the ages of 14 to 24 are 26 percent of the population, but they make up 64 percent of the homicide victims. Their rate is five times that of whites in the same age bracket. In the face of that, it is our duty to act," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Many of the city's leaders also took part in the "NYC Service Mentor It Forward" program at Martin Luther King Jr. High School.

The speed mentoring session allowed students to meet with professionals in various fields, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg and actor James Earl Jones.

The largest public celebration in the city took place at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, which hosted its 25th annual musical tribute to King.

"This event is the largest in the city. Brooklyn, New York has the largest African-American population in the United States. We have a very activist community, a very committed community, and people gather together here every year to celebrate Dr. King because it brings community together -- because Brooklyn is about community," said BAM President Karen Brooks Hopkins.

At soup kitchens and food pantries throughout the city, more than 500 volunteers honored King’s service.

The event was slated as being the largest ever "Serve-A-Thon" sponsored by the New York City Coalition Against Hunger.

In Washington Heights, more than 4,000 high school athletes competed at the Armory Track and Field for the 40th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Relays.

In Queens, the Museum of the Moving Image was screening a documentary about the civil rights leader called "King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery To Memphis."

Meantime, members of Dr. King's family laid a wreath at the grave of the civil rights leader and his wife, Coretta Scott King, in Atlanta, Georgia.

King's eldest son, Martin Luther King III, also delivered a keynote address at the annual observance of the federal holiday at Ebenezer Baptist Church.

It is the same church where King preached from 1960 until his death in 1968.

King would have turned 82 this past Saturday.