"James Madison" and "George Washington." Fourth-grader Sarah Atkinson gets star treatment from Montpelier student education coordinator Christian Cotz ('97)

Montpelier throws a star-spangled bash

The folks at Montpelier, the home of James Madison, know how to throw a 250th birthday party. Invite 3,000 kids and stand back.

The March 16 birthday party launched a yearlong celebration of the life and legacy of James Madison. The celebration began with a presidential wreath being placed at the newly refurbished Madison family cemetery. The highlight of the day, however, occurred when 3,000 school children from five Virginia counties created a "living flag" on the front lawn of the Madisons' family mansion.

A sea of third-, fourth- and fifth-graders toted red, white and blue placards of square- and star-shaped cardboard. The marvel was orchestrated by Christian Cotz ('97), Montpelier's student education coordinator, who says, "The living flag was a representation of the flag of Madison's presidency - The Star Spangled Banner, which is also a fourth-grade SOL subject. We're very pleased with this success since we've never done anything on this scale. The children were amazing."

To reward their feat, the children were featured on ABC's March 19 Good Morning America broadcast. As a cameraman climbed aboard a cherry picker truck to get a wide-angle shot of the 150-foot flag, GMA producer Tom Giusto shouted instructions into a microphone, "You are amazing. This is going to be a great opening for the show."

Madison portrayer John Douglas Hall of Stafford told the children, "Your participation today is symbolic in that this flag will be created by not one, but by many of you working together, just as our democracy is the product of not one but many of us who sought to achieve it."

After singing Happy Birthday with accompaniment by a U.S. Marine Corps Band, children and visitors scramble for 100 pounds of red, white and blue confetti shot from three cannons. Visitors also talked with actors portraying Madison's wife, Dolley, and his friends Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and James Monroe.

The Montpelier Foundation unveiled its first period-room exhibit, which transformed the Madison dining room back to 1824 when the Madison's hosted their famous guest, the Marquis de Lafayette.

By Michelle Hite ('88)