columbia • • unimVISItOr a supplement to the review and herald
THE education department of the Potomac Conference cele- brated the Bicentennial with a massive weekend fair on May 1 and 2, 1976. The attendance re- sembled camp meeting, with the police estimating that up to 4,000 people were at the festivities. Titled "The First Two Hun- dred," the two-day program began with a Saturday night musi- cal festival in the Takoma Academy gym, coordinated by Clarence Dunbebin, Sligo Elemen- tary School principal. It featured the Beltsville, Sligo, and J. N. Andrews school choirs with an all patriotic program, and ended with a massed choir of all the par- ticipating schools and a parade of the flags of all 50 States, led by a costumed "Uncle Sam." The Sunday program began at 10 a.m. and ran continuously until 6:30 p.m. The full day was a smorgasbord of events running simultaneously. The fair utilized the facilities of Sligo Elementary School, the Takoma Academy gym next door and the adjacent ball field. Twenty of Potomac's 27 ele- mentary schools participated. Fairgoers chose the activities they wanted to see and circulated be- tween science and art exhibits, the attractive Bicentennial booths, the outdoor field and track events, and the spelling bee in the Takoma Academy gym, directed Wayne Foster presents first-place ribbon to Keri Peterson, semifinalist winner for grade 2 in the spelling bee. The winners were Davy Mayers for grades 1 and 2; Cherie Good for grades 3 and 4; by Selma Bird. and Glenda Umali and Alvin Rhoda, who tied for grades 5 through 8. (Continued on page 2) The First Two Hundred By HERB BROECKEL Communication Director Potomac Conference