1957 Republian Anniversary Celebrations

23 Civilians killed1 Civilian beaten to death

Dozens of civilians injured

DMC bar damaged

Michael Morbius's fidelity

The 1957 Republian Anniversary Parade was a government run celebration celebrating the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Republia. It is notable for being a logistics failure, with multiple accidents during the event leading to the deaths of 23 spectators and tens of thousands of pounds in damages.

## Anniversary Parade

The event began with a military parade along Sir Nigel Wisketh-Forthersqueue Avenue. However, due to poor planning, it took over two hours for the parade to assemble and begin moving, during which it is rumored that many soldiers fainted from exhaustion, adding to delays. Despite the military band being within the procession, they were unable to play throughout the whole event as the lead tanks were unwilling to drive at a walking pace, thus requiring to all walking members of the parade to sprint ahead of them. The parade was further delayed when the Matilda tank within the parade was unable to make a slow 90 degree turn due to a faulty transmission.

The parade eventually terminated at the intersection between Sir Whisketh-Forthersqueue and Victoria Avenue, where they were greeted by thousands of guests lined up on the street. The parade was notable for being the first public demonstration of the MORBS armored car.

## Anniversary Airshow

The airshow was initiated after the completion of the parade, and consisted of three RMF spitfires flying in formation flight. However, due to poor discipline and planning, the display ended up uncoordinated, with each pilot attempting to make dangerous stunts above the audiences on the streets by themselves. This led to the crash of one of the spitfires into the front of the DMC Bar, severely damaging it and killing 23 spectators on the ground and within the bar and injuring dozens more. This was further compounded when the PZ-1 pilot went rouge and joined in on the airshow, floating dangerously low over the main intersection and causing multiple near misses with the remaining two spitfires. Minor collisions between the PZ-1 and the unopened PFR Tower also led to damage to both the zeppelin and the tower. The airshow was eventually terminated early to protect the remaining two spitfires and to perform damage control on the crash site.

## City Fair

The city fair consisted of many exhibits intended to show off new technological advances and equipment. Among the notable introductions at the fair were Aperture Science Republia, the Jörgen Kurtz light truck, and the FEM-BOY series of tractors.

The fair also included the first public exhibit of the Holy Nuclear Warhead, which was sabotaged by the RFC with a spray-painted phallus. During the cleanup and subsequent exhibition, it is rumored that multiple audience members contracted radiation poisoning, and the display of the warhead led to increased rates of cancer among fair-goers for multiple years.

## Aftermath

Republian officials decided against cancelling the fair after the accidents in order to maintain a sense of normalcy, and the celebrations continued according to the prepared plan, moving onto the grand openings of the PFR tower and the Republia Printing Modest Headquarters, during which another civilian was beaten to death after successfully raping chief architect Michael Morbius.

The damage to the DMC bar was quickly repaired within a few days and all media relating to the spitfire crash was confiscated or destroyed. Despite this, the large amount of spectators to the event and the presence of multiple undercover The Red Star reporters attending the event meant the accident was well documented and witnessed by a sizable portion of the population, thus solidifying the event as a major RMF failure.