History

MSU plans July Fourth celebration

The 17th annual old-fashioned July Fourth celebration will kick off at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Moorhead State University with afternoon family entertainment and a dusk fireworks display over Nemzek Field.

The celebration features continuous stage entertainment throughout the afternoon, along with games for children and adults. Refreshments will sell at old-fashioned prices, a spokesman for the university said. Ron Matthies, MSU director of celebration, said this year's event will have a different look because of construction under way on the campus mall. Most of the events will surround the library, he said.

"We'll be using land we haven't used before," Matthies said. "Other than that, everything will be the same."

The entertainment begins with an opening ceremony, followed by a children's decorated bicycle parade and contest. Stage entertainment-to be held at the back of the library-opens with Johnny Flag's Fourth of July band.

The afternoon program features a variety of music, dance, and song, Matthies said. Magicians will be featured throughout the afternoon, and cartoon movies will be offered in Weld Hall Auditorium. The planetarium will be open, and bingo will be played in the Comstock Memorial Union ballroom.

At 4 p.m. in the library porch, MSU professor Sylvia Morgan and Jill Trites, Pelican Rapids, a senior at the university, will be featured at a forum on the political turmoil in China. Both were stranded in China during the government crackdown on pro-democracy students. The forum will also include Shubo Xu, a visiting professor from Tianjin; Peter Geib, who recently returned from seven months of teaching in China, and moderator Bob Badal, a university dean who also visited China recently.

A community picnic supper will be served from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in Kise Commons, the campus dining hall. Reservations can be made by calling 236-3265. Other entertainment-including a drop by the Valley Skydivers in front of the football grandstand- is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. before

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