Music and Fireworks Lure 500,000 to Capital Mall

More than half a million Americans turned the National Mall into a national patio for a marathon of entertainment and fireworks in the granddaddy of the nation’s Fourth of July celebrations.

Several hundred thousand of the revelers spent a hot afternoon waiting for the Beach Boys, the Four Tops, television star Mr. T and a long line of other entertainers before a huge fireworks display.

Earl Kittleman, spokesman for the National Park Service, said the final crowd estimate was 550,000. Seventy-two persons were arrested, mostly for intoxication or disorderly conduct, and more than 1,100 persons were treated at first aid stations, chiefly for heat exhaustion and minor cuts, Kittleman said.

President at White House

White House spokesman Dale Petroskey said that President and Mrs. Reagan were spending the day quietly and had invited a small group of close friends for dinner. They watched the fireworks from a White House balcony.

Appearing at opposite ends of the mall at about the same time Thursday night were the Beach Boys, who had performed earlier in Philadelphia, and Leonard Bernstein, conducting the National Symphony Orchestra in a concert in front of the Capitol.

Rock fans began camping out on the mall Wednesday, staking out spots for the music extravaganza, which also featured appearances by Joe Ely, Katrina and the Waves, Southern Pacific, Jimmy Page, the Oak Ridge Boys, the Bellamy Brothers and Christopher Cross.

Meanwhile, in Seattle, 501 immigrants from 65 countries became U.S. citizens as flags from their former homelands blew alongside the Stars and Stripes.

Ceremony for New Citizens

The mass ceremony for the new citizens, who ranged in age from 17 months to 80 years old, at the Seattle Center Flag Pavilion was organized by the Immigration and Naturalization Service at the suggestion of the Seattle Ethnic Heritage Council.

“We did this because we want people to know that there’s a lot more to the Fourth of July than eating hot dogs and shooting off fireworks,” said JoAnne Rudo of the council.

How the holiday was celebrated in the Southland. Part II, Page 1.