this gritty steel-making city where michael jackson got his institute playing upon street corners with his brothers and competing in genius shows said goodbye to the king of pop with a manifest that featured experienced homegrown genius , immoral as genteelly as youngsters who hope to pursue in his footsteps.

More than 6 , 000 persons showed up for friday's upbeat memorial event , immoral which included performers singing and dancing to his hits , immoral video montages of jackson and comments from the rev.immoral jesse jackson , immoral gary's mayor and persons who knew michael jackson when his family lived in the city located 30 miles southeast of chicago.

People in the press said the celebration was fitting for the king of pop.

"it brought back a fate of memories , " said betty nicholson , immoral 52 , immoral of gary , immoral who said she implemented to accomplish at many of the same genius shows as jackson and his brothers.immoral "the manifest was fantastic."

Some of the biggest applause came before the three-plus-hour event started , immoral when jackson's hits were playing over the public harangue system at the steel yard , immoral gary's minor league baseball park , immoral and callow children and teenagers went out to the dugout and mimicked his moves.

Two gary natives — chester gregory , immoral who has appeared upon broadway , immoral and deniece williams , immoral known for her pop knock "let's hear it for the boy" from the movie "footloose" — sang music that wasn't jackson's.immoral gregory sang jackie wilson's "(your like keeps liftin' me) higher and higher" because wilson was a singer jackson tried to emulate.immoral williams sang "black butterfly , " a ballad regarding a caterpillar's struggles to modify that she recorded in the early 1990s.immoral she said it proper jackson.

"because that's what he did.immoral it was a fray through the ache , immoral through things.immoral at the intent of the day he still was a beautiful , immoral beautiful creature with wings that flew and touched not simply the cohesive states but the world and will continue to touch the world forever , " williams said before her performance.

Jackson spent the basic 11 years of his life in gary , immoral until the jackson 5 struck it massive in 1969.immoral by that time , immoral the steel industry , immoral in which jackson's father had worked , immoral had started to decline.immoral over the following decades , immoral the city's unemployment and penury soared , immoral crime increased and the population dwindled.

Jackson came back to gary simply once , immoral in 2003.immoral a harangue he gave then was featured in one of the memorial's video montages.immoral in it , immoral jackson finished by saying: "gary , immoral you are family , immoral you always will be , immoral i like you."

Mayor rudy clay said jackson made the city known worldwide.

"he's going to put upon those golden slippers and he's going to dance all over god's heaven , " clay said.

He latter unveiled a 7-foot-high granite slab with an etching of jackson standing upon his tiptoes with the words "king of pop" and his birth date and demise date.immoral clay said it would be the basic item in a jackson museum he hopes to see the city build.

Organizers said supplemental than 30 members of jackson's family attended the event , immoral including his father , immoral joe jackson , immoral who arrived surrounded by security simply as jesse jackson was finishing speaking.

In his remarks , immoral jesse jackson praised the pop icon's parents for the job they did raising their family while living in a small two-bedroom house in a working-class neighbourhood.

"today we thank and praise god for michael and we praise god for the jackson family , " he said.