Andrea Nicolas (left), who is visiting from Georgia, and Eva Kinsey of West Palm Beach shed tears during the memorial tribute. (Sarah Grile / The Post)

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FORT PIERCE — Gregory Barron Jr., just 21 months old, grinned up at his father, then turned and shuffled his sandal-clad feet sideways.

“Show your moonwalk. Show your moonwalk,” Gregory Barron Sr. said, laughing.

Barron and his son were among the throng of people that packed the historic Sunrise Theatre Tuesday to watch the televised memorial for Michael Jackson.

About 1,000 people came to the free event in downtown Fort Pierce. They sang, danced and clapped along to such Jackson favorites as “The way you make me feel,” “Billie Jean” and “Thriller.”

Tony Wilson, a performer who once served as a decoy for Jackson during the Victory tour in 1984, opened the event: “Somebody scream!” The crowd roared in response.

During the simulcast, the crowd clapped and snapped along with Mariah Carey and Trey Lorenz singing “I’ll be there.” They said, “Yeah, yeah,” when Berry Gordon, the founder of Motown, said of Jackson: “He raised the bar, then he broke the bar.” And they took to their feet when Gordon called him the “greatest entertainer that ever lived.”

Larry Lee, a well-known Fort Pierce businessman and co-host of the event, said he hoped that Jackson’s message, along with his music, would always be remembered: “Regardless of whether you are black or white we all are children of the world. Let that live within us.”

After the memorial, Wilson sang “Billie Jean,” prompting screams with his moonwalk across the stage. Vernicia Carpenter, 18, of Fort Pierce, joined him onstage for “I’ll be there.”
“(His music) affected me as a singer,” she said. “When he left it took a part of me with him.”

Barron, who said his son has listened to Jackson songs since birth, said he was sad that his son would not grow up with Jackson still in the world.
“We’re great fans of Michael Jackson,” he said.

Tags: Michael Jackson, Sunrise Theatre

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 6:17 pm and is filed under Entertainment, Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.