This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

^	PASS	CHRISTIAN
The Pass prepares for Tricentennial festivities
By KAT BERGERON______________________________
THE SUN HERALD
PASS CHRISTIAN ? This city of 6,000 is infected by the fever that sweeps the Coast as the clock ticks toward the anniversary of Iberville?s 1699 arrival, which gave rise to French settlements along the Gulf.
The Pass on Thursday will unveil a new sculpture of the French-Canadian explorer, and its new\ tricentennial committee will hold
kickoff campaign to gain community support.
?Our tricentennial celebration is a chance for everyone to crystallize on our heritage and to get a more thorough and accurate history of our community and the role it has played in development of the Mississippi Coast,? said Dan Ellis, chairman of the Pass Christian Area Colonization Tricentennial Committee.
?The committee will work with schools, civic groups, the historical society, businesses,, and the city. We hope that everything Pass -Christian traditionally does takes on a Tricer^ennial
theme in 1999.?
The Thursday kickoff in St. Paul?s gymnasium will include food, music and talks by committee members and Mayor Billy McDonald. The highlight will be the unveiling of the Iberville bust by Michelle Drane Smith, the Pass artist donating the sculpture.
?My husband and I love Pass Christian so much, and this is one way we felt we could contribute to the 300th,? said Smith who moved here from Louisiana with her husband, Dr. A.C. Smith.
With only one existing portrait, recreating a realistic face of Iberville was difficult for the artist who studied oil painting under Auseklis Ozols at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts.
?Looking at the portrait, you get the idea that he was a man accustomed to commanding,? she said. ?He had a presence ? and a double chin and a big nose. He must have been a
Please see Festivities, E-4