DETROIT, MI (March 19, 2004) - Wayne State University will be celebrating the passage of spring with the 21st Annual Funeral for Ol' Man Winter at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 7, 2004. Led by the "Monster Truck Hearse", the funeral procession will rumble through campus, taking WSU students, faculty and the community on a wild and wacky burial march starting on Anthony Wayne Drive near the new Starbucks inside the North Residence Hall. The marchers and campus community will bury winter and welcome Miss Spring outside the Circa 1890 Saloon on Cass Ave. between Warren and Palmer. For more information call, (313) 577-1795.

Condemning winter and crowning Miss Spring, 2004 Wayne Idol Winner Quiana Russua, will be former Detroit television personality Dwayne X. Riley. Riley will perform a brief ceremony in front of Circa 1890 Saloon, burying winter for another year and welcoming warmer weather by crowning the 2004 Miss Spring. Russua will bring spring to Detroit in song. The processional through campus will be led by a Dixieland band featuring Wayne State music students, under the direction of Douglas Bianchi. After the ceremony, Circa owner Steve Xantheas will welcome all mourners and celebrators to dine inside, where he will donate the day's proceeds to the WSU Law School, Department of Music, and Mortuary Science Program.

All in attendance will receive spring flowers donated by Ashley's Florist of Detroit and gift cards donated by Starbucks. The 2004 Funeral for Ol' Man Winter is sponsored in part by WDRQ-FM.