ADRIAN — A group from Lenawee County was among those whose plans to attend the 63rd anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington were derailed by last-minute bus cancellations.

The rally took place on Friday, Aug. 28, on the National Mall, and the theme was “Defend the Vote.” Leaders included the Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III.

The National Action Network, a group founded by Sharpton, had organized charter buses to take people to the march from a number of communities, including Lenawee County.

Denise Benjamin, who was coordinating the group, said she found out about the cancellation a little over an hour before the scheduled departure time of 9 p.m. Thursday. She said a representative from National Action Network told her they had tried to contract with a different bus company, but that company would not have been able to get them to the nation’s capital in time.

Other groups affected by the cancellations included people from Chicago, Northwest Indiana, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Elyria, Ohio.

Details about the reasons for the cancellation were hard to come by. In a Facebook post, the Indiana chapter of National Action Network stated, “We were informed that the necessary bus permits were not granted for buses traveling from Indiana, as well as buses originating from a few other states.”

The Indiana group announced on Sept. 5 that they would be holding a community listening session about the cancellations on Sept. 10 at Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church in Gary.