Editing Zap, North Dakota (section)

==The "Zip to Zap"==
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The town of Zap is probably most widely known for the [[Zip to Zap]] riot, which occurred on May 10, 1969. The Zip to Zap was originally intended as a spring break diversion. Between 2000 and 3000 people descended upon the town after an article by Chuck Stroup, originally appearing in the [[North Dakota State University]] ''Spectrum'' newspaper, and then later picked up by the [[Associated Press]], persuaded busloads and chartered planes full of people from around the United States to go there.

The amiable revelry began early with an all-night party in the streets outside an overwhelmed small bar. When the mayor finally exited the bar in the middle of the night and discovered a bonfire on main street and realized the size of the crowd in his tiny town, he panicked and called the governor, [[William L. Guy|William Guy]].  At dawn, marching in formation and armed with bayonets placed, the [[United States National Guard|National Guard]] invaded the town and forced the crowd to leave Zap.  The event moved to several other towns before the Governor announced that a park in [[Bismarck, North Dakota|Bismarck]] would host the crowd.  The then-popular rock station, KFYR, and their disc jockeys were in communication with event organizers and falsely reported where the crowd had gone before they arrived, effectively directing all the listeners on which small town and park to proceed to next.  In one village, locals cleaned out the Farmers Union of every implement handle in order to patrol their town against the wave of invading [[hippie]]s and cowboys.