KYW Flashback: Bicentennial "American Way Festival" Hits The Parkway

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- You don't throw a world-class party for millions without a dress rehearsal.

The bicentennial was just a year away when Philadelphia planners launched, the "American Way Festival", a giant street fair complete with Native American dancers, fashion models, music, food and nearly one-and-a-half million people.

They poured onto the Parkway, enjoyed the entertainment and a day of fantastic weather. But for those, putting together the 1976 bicentennial celebration it was a dramatic nod to their ability to stage a successful event for an unimagined crowd.

"The American Way Festival" also became the model for a succession of Super Sundays and the enormously popular Parkway 4th of July celebrations.