Hot dogs, cool jazz in old Saigon

HO CHI MINH CITY (UPI): American jazz, hot dogs and apple pie will be featured at the first officially sanctioned U.S. Independence Day celebration to be held in the former Saigon in more than 20 years.

Saigon resident Erik Huyer, who has done much of the preliminary work for the annual American rite, said the local response has been so enthusiastic that the venue had to be changed from the Reunification Palace, former home of South Vietnam's president, to the larger Binh Quoi Tourist Village on the banks of the Saigon River.

He said the organizers of event, which originally was expected to attract 500 people, had already sold 800 tickets, more than half of them to Vietnamese.

In addition to such traditional fare as hot dogs, hamburgers, American flags and the national anthem, the Independence Day celebration will feature children's games, tennis and volleyball tournaments, and Vietnamese and Filipino jazz bands.

Huyer described the local response to the event, which is scheduled to take place next Sunday, as "fantastic."

He said Vietnamese officials, from the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and the Hanoi government, had been "totally supportive" in organizing the event.

"This response shows that Vietnam fervently wants to embrace friendship with America," Huyer said.

Other Saigon residents said the government's official blessing of the event was meant as a signal of their eagerness for full normalization of relations between the U.S. and Vietnam. President Bill Clinton lifted a trade embargo against Vietnam early last year and has been urged by congressional leaders to approve full diplomatic relations with Hanoi.