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Friday
Feb042011

Ronald Reagan's 100th Birthday to Be Celebrated Nationwide

Photo Courtesy - ABC News(WASHINGTON) -- Friends and admirers of Ronald Reagan will pop the cork this weekend for elaborate festivities around the country to commemorate what would have been the former president's 100th birthday.

Reagan, who died in 2004 at age 93, will be celebrated from Simi Valley, California, where hundreds are expected at a celebrity-packed tribute concert featuring the Beach Boys, to Dixon, Illinois., where neighbors will gather near Reagan's boyhood home for a celebratory gala.

At the Super Bowl in Dallas on Sunday -- Reagan's actual birthday -- a two-minute film tribute will air on giant jumbotrons before tens of thousands of fans.

Earlier in the day, Nancy Reagan is expected to lay a wreath at her late husband's gravesite, as F-18s launched from the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan fly overhead and the military performs a 21-gun salute.

The tributes, ranging from the formal to the quirky, have been coordinated by the Ronald Reagan Foundation and the Reagan Centennial Commission, a panel formed for the anniversary by Congress in 2009 with President Obama's approval.

Perhaps the most coloful display for Reagan's birthday will be a giant six-foot-by-six-foot birthday cake that will be served to visitors at the newly renovated Reagan museum in California.  It's topped with 20,000 jelly beans -- the president's favorite candy -- and emblazoned with the presidential seal and photos from his life.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

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