3:47 p.m. - The Bismarck Rotary Club is celebrating its 85th anniversary at a celebration starting at noon today at the Bismarck Elks Club, 900 S. Washington St.

Founded originally so people within different professions could meet one another, Rotary quickly went into community service, said current president Sharon Johnson, first locally, then nationally and internationally. Rotary's efforts have gone toward promoting good will and helping the less fortunate, she said.

Probably the biggest project during the last 10 years as been the Rotary effort to eradicate polio, she said.

Locally, the Bismarck Rotary has made youth a major emphasis. Among other activities, it offers 23 scholarships and has funded the 4-H banquet for 76 years, Johnson said. Rotary sponsors an annual wrestling tournament, after-prom parties, and has adopted Riverside Elementary School, providing help and books.

Rotary's list of past president reads like a Bismarck Who's Who list, including names of civil, professional and business leaders that have passed into folklore, Johnson said.

Rotary is the world's oldest service club, said local member Fay Behm, and has created a dramatic impact worldwide with programs such as the "Polio Plus Project," which has immunized more than two billion children against polio. Locally, the club supports scouting, helps the Salvation Army with time and contributions, and supports the God's Child Project in Guatemala, founded by Patrick Atkinson, son of Rotary member Myron Atkinson.

This club was chartered on March 24, 1920. Over the past 85 years, the Bismarck Rotary Club has sponsored clubs in Mandan, Dickinson and Bismarck's Far West Club.

Bismarck Rotary has close to 100 members. It is one of 32,000 Rotary clubs comprising 1.2 million members in 166 countries.