The 29th annual Trailblazers event will take place 1 p.m. Sunday at Mount Zion Baptist Church, recognizing Black achievers with ties to Bowling Green and Warren County.

“We want to honor the ones making a difference within our community, within the African-American community, to empower the future generations to let them know who (these achievers are), to let them know you can make a difference, too,” said Chasity Rodgers Dunn, chair of the Trailblazer Committee, which comprises individuals from seven local churches.

Honorees are firsts in their field, and individuals making a difference through community service or giving back to the African-American community, Dunn added.

The programming will begin with a reading of the honorees’ bios, to be followed by a tribute to the honorees. Trailblazer Committee member Tai-Ann Chumney will present a spoken-word poem, and proclamations and presentations from city and county officials will follow. The congregation will close with the Black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

The program will honor Hon. Judge Ralph Bailey, a Bowling Green native, for judicial excellence. In 2021, he was appointed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to serve on the Henry County state court bench, the first full-time Black male judge in the county’s history.

Pauletha Butts, principal at Alvaton Elementary, will be honored for her work in elementary education.

Jessie Varner, who lives in Smiths Grove, is being honored for civic service as the first Black postmaster of Park City.

Lamario Moore, assistant director at Western Kentucky University’s Cynthia and George Nichols III Intercultural Student Engagement Center, is being honored as a trailblazer for community service and mentorship.

Bowling Green High School Senior Cayden Dunn is being honored as a trailblazer in the making. The co-student body president achieved a 35 ACT score and 1,500-plus SAT score, and he’s a Kentucky youth ambassador and government scholar youth ambassador. He also serves as the Kentucky Family, Career and Community Leaders of America state president, the first Black male to hold the position.

Terrance Brown will be honored as the first Black dean at WKU’s Potter College of Arts & Letters.