{"id":34013,"date":"2025-08-31T03:36:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T03:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/34013\/"},"modified":"2025-08-31T03:36:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T03:36:07","slug":"fans-from-around-the-world-gather-near-michael-jacksons-childhood-home-for-birthday-tribute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/34013\/","title":{"rendered":"Fans from around the world gather near Michael Jackson\u2019s childhood home for birthday tribute"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">GARY, Ind. (<a href=\"http:\/\/wgntv.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:WGN;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">WGN<\/a>) \u2014 The spirit of the King of Pop was everywhere as Gary, Indiana, transformed into an MJ wonderland in honor of what would have been Michael Jackson\u2019s 67th birthday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Saturday marked the final day of the two-day festivities. For many, it was more than just a birthday block party, but a powerful tribute to Jackson\u2019s roots.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cEveryone has so much respect and love for Michael and that\u2019s why we all try to celebrate his life,\u201d Keith Jackson, Michael\u2019s cousin, said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Fans poured into the area of 2300 Jackson Street, where Jackson\u2019s legendary childhood home is, to pay homage to the man who revolutionized music and entertainment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Many traveled from far and wide, including Germany and Switzerland, saying they wouldn\u2019t miss this celebration for anything.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cI\u2019m a huge Michael Jackson fan since 1995. I listen to Michael Jackson every day,\u201d Ueli Meier, visiting from Switzerland, said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Right behind Jackson\u2019s home, Roosevelt High School, where he once walked the halls, hosted a lively block party.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The air was filled with music, dancing and special guest performances celebrating the legend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Those who admired MJ dressed in their best sparkling outfits and penny loafers proudly showing off their best moonwalk moves.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cMichael Jackson is definitely iconic from the 70s, 80s and 90s and still relevant even though he\u2019s gone,\u201d said Z-Truth of Biggs Radio Chicago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">While the spotlight was on celebrating Jackson, there was also a heartfelt tribute to his entire family for their influence on music and culture, with a special recognition honoring Tito Jackson, who passed away last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wgntv.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"> For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GARY, Ind. (WGN) \u2014 The spirit of the King of Pop was everywhere as Gary, Indiana, transformed into&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[264],"tags":[26583,18,117,19,17,26582,26581,337,26461],"class_list":{"0":"post-34013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-2300-jackson-street","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-keith-jackson","14":"tag-king-of-pop","15":"tag-music","16":"tag-tito-jackson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}