HAIL TO THE CHIEFS; PRESIDENTS GET THEIR DAY AT REAGAN LIBRARY.Byline: Don Holland Daily News Staff Writer There was a presidential summit of sorts here Monday. Photo opportunities were the order of the day along with plenty of presidential pressing of the flesh as the Reagan Presidential Library hosted its fourth annual Presidents Day lawn party. Dressed in a dainty daisy-print dress, 6-year-old Mariah Murphy beamed as she shook hands with President Reagan look-alike Jay Koch, who has doubled as the former president in several films. Though she hadn't a clue about the distinguished gentleman in the crisp blue suit, the little girl - along with several thousand others - had a ball during the daylong event. ``It's fun. There's always something to do, and they have the look-alike presidents,'' said Catherine Jenkins, a Simi Valley woman who has attended the library's Presidents Day festivities every year since they started. Doubles for Presidents Bush and Washington and a pair of ersatz Lincolns were also on hand to greet visitors on one of the library's busiest days of the year. Following a strong morning surge of guests, organizers were expecting to clear 5,000 visitors, about 600 more than last year. ``I've never seen it like this,'' said Eileen Kemp, who organized the day's activities. ``I think it's because people have been inside all week. It's getting to be kind of the place to go on Presidents Day, which is kind of neat.'' But the day's activities were more than just a day of picnicking, listening to big band melodies and and museum browsing. Marla Alvord was there to have fun with her family - and to make hay on a school report on the library's namesake. Standing before a graffiti-covered section of the Berlin Wall Berlin Wall, 1961–89, a barrier first erected in Aug., 1961, by the East German government along the border between East and West Berlin, and later extended along the entire border between East Germany and West Germany. It was built to halt large numbers of defections and to prevent E. Berliners commuting to the West. Erected at a time of growing tension between East and West, the barbed wire was eventually replaced by concrete topped with wire., the fourth-grader from Panorama City dutifully copied down an explanation of the wall's significance. ``It's to separate the free and the not-free,'' she said simply. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos PHOTO (1--Color) Katie Fowler, 9, gets a load of President Lincoln look-alike Wallace Collier. (2--Color) Jay Koch as President Reagan gets chummy with a visitor to Presidents Day festivities. Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News |
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