MashGet

GARY, Ind. - The city where Michael Jackson spent the first 11 years of his life bade farewell to the late pop icon Friday evening as several thousand people showed up to watch performers sing and dance to his hits.

Gary Mayor Rudy Clay said Jackson had made the city known worldwide and told the crowd that he has moved on to a better place.

"He's going to put on those golden slippers and he's going to dance all over God's heaven," Clay said to the more than 6,000 people gathered at the Steel Yard, Gary's minor-league baseball park.