Kermit the Frog began a globe-hopping tour to celebrate his 50th showbiz birthday in a small West Texas town that shares the beloved amphibian's name.

The town of about 5,700 rolled out the green carpet Friday for the singing, dancing Muppet and former "Sesame Street" star, giving him the key to the city, dubbing him grand marshal of the homecoming parade and crowning him honorary homecoming king.

The town, one of two in the country named Kermit, also painted Kermit's face on the community's large water tower. The local Dairy Queen offered green French fries and ice cream in his honor. A park in town also will bear his name.
"I haven't seen such nice faces since Miss Piggy's last makeover," he said in an appearance at City Hall, which is on a street that's been renamed Kermit the Frog Boulevard. "It's really like coming home again."

Kermit's 50-stop tour will cross four continents and last until the end of 2006. Stops include the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, the Great Wall of China, the Johnson Space Center and a courageous appearance at a Frog Leg Festival in Fellsmere, Fla. He's even scheduled to run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain.

"I thought they said bullfrogs," Kermit said in a rare Associated Press interview with a Muppet.

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