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Mackinac Bridge's 50th anniversary slated

Date Posted: March 2 2007

If your summer schedule is open, and you're considering a trip in or around the Straits of Mackinac, you might want to circle Friday and Saturday, July 27-28 on your calendar.

That weekend the State of Michigan will hold the 50th anniversary celebration commemorating the opening of the Mackinac Bridge.

The tentative schedule of events includes a banquet on the evening of July 27 in St. Ignace. On July 28, parades will be held in St. Ignace and Mackinaw City, the Iron Workers will have the annual get-together featuring a skills demonstration, 50 automobiles will be displayed (for each year the bridge has been open), oral presentations and recordings will be heard, and a big fireworks display will take place over the Straits.

The bridge actually opened to traffic Nov. 1, 1957, but planners of the celebration figured the weather might not be so warm that late in the year.