Events at JPJ, Paramount attract massive crowds

People throughout Charlottesville gathered Tuesday in groups large and small to watch TV broadcasts of the first African-American being sworn in as the president of the United States.

For the roughly 1,000 people at the University of Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena, the day’s pomp was broadcast on jumbo TVs judiciously tuned to a commentary-free C-Span production.

Rose Glasgow was returning to work shortly after she and her daughter, Sharika Howard, 10, watched President Barack Obama get sworn in and give his inaugural address. Mother and daughter were each outfitted in Obama shirts.

“I took off to bring her because she’ll remember it for the rest of her life,” Glasgow said. “Now, you can say your child, who is an African-American, can be president. [It] is not an unreachable goal, it’s a reality.”

Conor Grady, a third-year student at UVa, said he was surprised by how bipartisan the mood at JPJ was. “I’m assuming that not all of these people were hardcore Obama supporters,” Grady said. “It gives me hope ... to see everyone so excited ... that many people pressing for this event.”

Two who wish they’d witnessed the moment in Washington were Christy and Gene Murray, who accidentally bought Amtrak tickets for the wrong day. The Murrays were two of about a dozen spectators left in the arena watching as former President George W. Bush and wife Laura boarded Marine One and took off from the Capitol.

“We’re trying to soak it all in,” Christy Murray said.

Gene Murray said Obama’s speech was “a call to action for all Americans ... I think that people, regardless of their background or affiliation, are optimistic.”

Joe Mychaleckyj was at JPJ with his wife, Denise Bonds, and their daughter Lise, 9, who had the day off from Burnley-Moran Elementary School in Charlottesville. Mychaleckyj is a genetics researcher with UVa who moved to the United States from the United Kingdom in 1991.

“I think the celebration here is a lot more pomp and ceremony,” Mychaleckyj said. “In Britain there are some of the same aspects of the ceremony, but it’s just a little more subdued and reserved.” Mychaleckyj remembers political transitions from childhood as “matter of fact.”

“I think there’s a lot more interest now, in terms of what’s happening in the United States ... I think, to be totally honest, looking for leadership from the U.S., after what some would regard as a number of years where Americans have been lost.”

As early as 9 a.m., eager inauguration watchers at Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater began to form a line that snaked for more than a block on the Downtown Mall — even though the majority of the mall is being torn up and refurbished.

The collective experience

“I’ve never seen such a long line,” said Katharine Vlcek, the Paramount’s marketing coordinator.

A diverse crowd packed the 1,040 person-capacity theater on Tuesday to watch Obama be sworn in as the nation’s 44th president.

“Here in the Paramount, not all memories are good,” said city resident Martin Burks, pointing out that blacks used to be allowed only in the theater’s upper balcony. But Tuesday, he said, marked “a beautiful occasion.”

Free tickets for the event were made available to the public on Jan. 8, and were gone in 35 minutes. The inauguration’s showing on a 43-foot, high-definition screen was the first the theater had done, and whenever Obama, his family or even his moving boxes at the White House were broadcast, the audience went wild.

Fluvanna residents Joe and Paula Eash said they came to the theater to be with the crowd to watch the momentous event.

“There will never be another day like this one,” Paula Eash said.

Having lived in Washington before, the Eashes decided they didn’t need to brave the throng of millions up there.

“We didn’t want to be in that mess,” Joe Eash said.

Albemarle resident Ampy Smith almost didn’t come to the theater, until one of his friends got him some tickets.

“It’s just like a good football game; I’d rather sit at home and watch it,” Smith said, referring to whether he also should have trekked up to Washington. But he gladly took the tickets, having been to the Paramount for many shows.

Surrounding Smith and several other spectators were boxes of tissues that had been carefully placed next to the venue’s seats. Event volunteer Rosa Ayres was walking around with a box of her own before the swearing-in and Obama’s address started. The word “excited,” she said, did not even begin to describe her feelings about the day — but she knew she had to keep tissues handy.

“You gotta grab them,” Ayres said. “The tears are going to be flowing.”

And by the end of Obama’s inaugural speech, there were some people hugging, others grinning and even more dabbing their eyes.

“It was something else,” one attendee said.

History over hamburgers

At Boylan Heights, a restaurant on the Corner, about 75 people gathered to watch CNN’s coverage of the inaugural proceedings on high-definition TVs while drinking pitchers of beer and munching on hamburgers.

“That’s unbelievable,” one UVa student said as the cameras showed the sea of spectators on the National Mall.

Chelsea Stobbart, who graduated from UVa in May, cheered after Obama took the oath of office.

“I’m so excited,” she said. “This says a lot [about our country]. It shows we’re progressing.”

Geoff Lewis, also a recent UVa grad, recently lost his job at Zydeco, a Corner restaurant that closed a couple weeks ago. Lewis said he is optimistic about Obama’s presidency.

“I can’t find the words for it, but this feels good,” Lewis said.

Witnessing the inauguration of the nation’s first black president, Lewis added, was particularly poignant to him.

“As an African-American from Louisiana, it means a lot to me that this is happening,” Lewis said. “Growing up, they always told us that we could be anything we wanted to be. I’m not sure that I totally believed that until now.”

Lewis added that he liked how Obama acknowledged the day’s historic significance but did not overemphasize race in his inaugural address. Obama, he said, mentioned all the key issues facing the country and pointed a clear, albeit difficult, path forward.