Bands like the Ballou High School Marching Knights in the nation’s capital hope to make a repeat performance in the inaugural parade Jan. (Photo: dcpubliclibrary.org)
By Sean Yoes
AFRO Staff Writer
(November 16, 2008) - While President-elect Barack Obama and his team methodically build his administration, the nation's capital prepares for more than one million – with some estimates as high as three million -- people from around the world who want to witness the historic swearing-in of America's first Black president on Jan. 20.
Washington, D.C. is preparing for a week-long victory party and hotels in the district are almost all filled more than two months before Obama's swearing-in.
According to Carole Foreman, communications director for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, 240,000 tickets for the swearing-in ceremony have been printed and placed in a secure location.
And despite the claims of Web sites selling tickets for thousands of dollars, inaugural tickets are free, can only be obtained through U.S. senators and representatives and will not be distributed until January.
Meanwhile, officials say if you want to march or perform in the Jan. 20 inauguration parade, you had better hurry. The application deadline has been extended to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18, because of unprecedented interest from groups wanting to join the celebration.
The Armed Forces Inaugural Committee, the organization in charge of collecting applications, reported receiving 10 applications an hour and had more than 400 so far. The committee has detailed application instructions available at its Web site, www.afic.northcom.mil.
If your band or group is successful, the U.S. National Park Service says it will clear more viewing space than in past inaugurations along the Pennsylvania Avenue parade route. Jumbo TV screens will also line the National Mall so hundreds of thousands can witness the inauguration and parade, according to Park Service spokesman David Barna.
According to the Park Service, the largest crowd ever on the National Mall was for President Lyndon B. Johnson's 1965 inauguration -- although "unofficial" estimates suggest the Million Man March on Oct. 16, 1995 attracted up to 1.5 million people.
At the time of Johnson's inauguration, the Park Service estimated 1.2 million people descended on the area in 1965.
President Reagan's inauguration drew about 500,000 people in 1981 and in 1993 Bill Clinton's inauguration attracted about 800,000 according to the Park Service.
And, in 1961, despite bitter cold and a blanket of snow, about a million people attended the inauguration of John Kennedy.
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes-Norton is urging inaugural organizers to use arenas and stadiums to deal with overflow crowds who want to see the ceremonies on big screen TVs. She also wants churches to hold viewing parties.
"You can't judge by past inaugurations. It's going to break all the records," Holmes-Norton told the Sunday Monitor.
"They're going to come with or without tickets. It's each man and woman for himself."
For updates on the 2009 presidential inauguration events, visit the official Web site at http://inaugural.senate.gov.