Area Residents, Military Families to Attend Premiere Inaugural Events
Washington, D.C. - The Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) today announced plans to distribute more than a thousand free tickets each for the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball, the premiere event of Tuesday night's activities, and the Kids' Inaugural: We Are the Future concert to members of the general public in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Tickets will be distributed to area residents through a number of local organizations working hand in hand with the PIC. The PIC also announced that, working with the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee (AFIC), they have made thousands of tickets to Monday night's concert honoring our troops available to the families of military personnel. Tickets for the general public and military families will be free of charge.
"President-elect Obama is committed to holding an Inaugural that involves all Americans, whether they are here in Washington, D.C., or in their neighborhoods across the country," said PIC Executive Director Emmett Beliveau. "Working with local community groups we have made thousands of tickets available to the general public here in Washington for the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball and the Kids' Inaugural concert on Monday night. Monday night's concert will also be an opportunity to honor and celebrate the families of our men and women in uniform as we invite thousands of military families to join the Obama and Biden families at this special event. We invite Americans across the country to join with the friends and families to be a part of this historic occasion by experiencing these events in their homes and neighborhoods."
More than a thousand tickets to the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball, airing live on ABC (8:00 - 10:00 p.m. ET, Tuesday, January 20th), are being made available to members of the District of Columbia metro area's general public, free of charge, today. The PIC is working with dozens of community organizations across the metro area and will release tickets to them today to make available for their neighborhoods, volunteers and those they serve in the local community. The Neighborhood Inaugural Ball is the premiere event of the night, during which these DC area residents, along with people from neighborhoods across the country, can celebrate with newly sworn-in President Barack Obama at his first ball appearance of the evening.
"We are really excited about this," said Angela Byrd, Executive Director of the D.C. Foster and Adoptive Parent Association, which received tickets today. "This is a really special opportunity for people in the metro area to be able to participate. Our foster, adoptive, and kinship families are ready to welcome the new President to his new neighborhood here in DC."
Thousands of tickets to the Kids' Inaugural: We Are the Future concert, airing on the Disney Channel Monday night (8:00 - 9:30 p.m. ET/PT, Monday, January 19th), including some of the best seats in the house, have been made available to military families across the region. The PIC, working closely with the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee (AFIC), has transferred these tickets to the Department of Defense for distribution. The tickets for military members, Active, Guard and Reserve, Wounded Warriors, dependents, and Families of the Fallen are being issued by the Armed Services to their respective Service members free of charge, with the majority of tickets being allocated to the families of enlisted personnel and junior officers.
"It really means a lot to all of us in the military that our incoming President and Vice President along with their wives have remembered not just our service, but most of all, our sacrifice, which often involves us leaving our families behind as we serve," said Lt. Commander Brenda Steele, a spokesperson for AFIC. "What a beautiful way to honor us, and what a wonderful gift for our children."
More than a thousand tickets for Monday night's concert are also being made available free of charge to families in the DC area. The PIC has worked closely with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington to distribute tickets to children and their families through the organizations' 20 affiliated clubs in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.