ZAP - The warm flame of hippie folklore lives on in Zap.

The small town that's kept the Zip to Zap spirit alive since 1969 did it one more time Friday for the 40th anniversary of the infamous spring break party that ended with the only riot-control deployment of the National Guard in North Dakota history.

By the time the sun set on a perfect spring evening, more than 1,000 people were in town, eating pork barbecue, enjoying the beer gardens, hanging out on the street and waiting for the rock 'n roll to get started.

Zap Mayor Terry Barden couldn't keep the smile off his face, even if he didn't sleep much the night before.

It was just what the town had in mind, he said.

The scene was mellow, good spirited and mix of reunion for some and family time for others. Show cars lined one street and more than 100 motorcycles lined another, after rumbling into town in a parade of do-rags and black leather chaps.

The old Zap cop car, a 1961 Ford with the cherry still on top, was a smile-getter.

Don Homuth of Oregon was among North Dakota State University newspaper students who promoted the original Zip to Zap as the Fort Lauderdale of the north.

That spring when love was breaking out everywhere and Vietnam was controversial, the kids came, drank, partied too hearty and the National Guard rolled in at dawn to bust it up.

Homuth returned for the 40th and found just what he was looking for - some old and new faces, stories he hadn't heard before, Guardsmen to swap tales with, a cold beer and good food.

"I cannot imagine how it could be any better," he said. "I'm glad I came."

Three former Guardsmen were glad they'd made the trip, too.

Ed Laches, Mott, Rueben Pastian, New Leipzig, Mel Schmidt, Richardton, were all with the Mott troop that was called up that night. They rolled out of the Mott armory at 2 a.m., and jumped out of the trucks in Zap two hours later with fixed bayonets and a job to do, even if they weren't much more than kids themselves back then.

Schmidt said he's returned for earlier reunions and came to this one partly for the polka band that started up at 4 p.m., before the rock 'n roll band later in the evening.

"We like to dance," he said.

It was a first return for Pastian. "I wanted to see what the town looks like and reminisce a little bit," he said.

Schmidt stopped to look at a display of old Zip to Zap photographs and found a picture of himself in his Guard uniform silhouetted against a broken window.

He studied it quietly for a moment.

"Everybody who sees it says that's me," he said.

Time flies.

Judging from the many gray mustaches and beards, it's flown for many who came to Zap on Friday to remember the old times, or to be able to say they finally got there, even if it was 40 years later.

And besides, after all these years, Zap still zips.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 701-748-5511, or lauren@;westriv.com.)