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September 17, 2003CHERRY FESTIVAL: Students for Life asks to participateBoard suggests they try to be more entertainingByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - Grand Traverse Area Students for Life asked to be allowed to participate in a 2004 National Cherry Festival parade after being rejected for the 2003 festival. At a community forum Tuesday, Kevin Stinnet, president of the student group, said, "This group has been marching in the Cherry Festival for seven years and we always have a positive message." This year the students planned to march wearing T-shirts with the slogan: Life is a Bowl of Cherries - Celebrate Life. Stinnet was part of a group of eight who attended the forum on behalf of the group that is affiliated with the Grand Traverse Area Right to Life. Festival board member George Wertman asked the group to consider participating in some other parade besides the Junior Royale Parade, which is devoted to kids. Current board president Kay Relyea said the group might also think up something else to do besides marching. "We're looking for entertainment," Relyea said. "We've gotten a lot of comments in past years that the parades were too long and too boring. We're trying to get the parades as entertaining as possible." Peggy Stinnet, president of Grand Traverse Area Right to Life, said last summer the group was told the rejection was because of controversy. "Will entertainment be the criteria?" she asked. Relyea it would be one of the topics discussed when the festival board meets in a retreat Oct. 3-5. Festival officials were also asked to eliminate turtle races for kids because the activity is cruel to the turtles, said Beth Morgan, who represented For Animals. She praised the festival for heeding the group's concerns in the past.
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