Locals With Inauguration Tickets Find ‘Winning the Lottery’ is a Relative Term
B-MATTER
The Day
Katie Koch
Boston University Washington News Service
1/20/09
WASHINGTON – For the lucky few from Connecticut who managed to obtain tickets for the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama, it was like winning the lottery. Getting there, however, was another story.
From long lines to a stolen purse to having nowhere to stay in the capital, Nutmeggers who received the coveted tickets from their members of Congress faced many hurdles this week. But in the end, they agreed, witnessing history in the making was well worth the effort.
The hassle started Monday morning, when congressional offices opened to the public so that ticket-lottery winners could pick up their passes to the inauguration. From 9 a.m. into the evening, lines stretched around every entrance to the House and Senate office buildings, said Brian Farber, communications director for Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District.
“We started to get calls from constituents who were out waiting for a very long time, so we started delivering the tickets to them in the lines,” Farber said.
Tami Patterson of Norwich, who campaigned for Obama and Courtney last fall, received a call from Courtney’s office in December saying she had won two standing-room tickets for the Capitol grounds.
“I couldn’t believe it, out of all the people,” Patterson said. “I was ecstatic; I started crying.”
Her plans soon hit a speed bump when she realized she and her son, Ryan Parker, would have nowhere to stay. Out of desperation, she visited Obama’s Web site and posted her dilemma on a community message board. Luckily, a couple in the area responded, offering her and Parker a room in their Virginia home Monday night.
“I was prepared to stay in my car,” she said.
Erin Foley-Machnik of Niantic thought the trip down to the inauguration would go relatively smoothly. She and her mother, Denise Foley of Waterford, planned to stay with relatives in Loudoun County, Va. Both are recovering from recent surgeries—spinal fusion for Foley-Machnik, a knee replacement for her mother—but Foley-Macknik said the historic occasion was worth a risky trip.
After hours of standing in crowds, Foley-Machnik was leaving the National Mall yesterday afternoon following the inauguration when she realized her purse had been stolen. It contained not just her wallet, cash and Metro card, but her prescription pain medication as well. Surrounded by thousands of spectators jammed in shoulder-to-shoulder, she was unable to find the thief.
“The police officer that I went to said, ‘I wish there was something I could do,’” she said.
Beth Blackketter of Warren drove down to stay with her brother and sister-in-law in Millersville, Md., after winning tickets through the office of Rep. Christopher Murphy, D-5th District.
“My brother dropped us off four blocks from the Capitol,” Blackketter said. “We thought we were golden.”
Over three hours later, she and her sister-in-law Gretchen Bandy finally made it into their ticketed area, just behind the Capitol reflecting pool.
Despite the long lines and chilly temperatures, the two remained in high spirits. They huddled together, arms around one another, and took pictures of the scene as the new President spoke.
“Today’s all about the accomplishment of getting him here, uniting the country and celebrating this historic event,” Blackketter said.
Foley-Machnik said she was inspired by Obama’s inaugural address.
“It was hard to hear the speech where we were, but everything he said was extremely passionate and…full of hope,” she said. “The point that we’re not done yet, we have a lot of work to do, a lot of sacrifices to make, stuck out.
“At the end of the day, we still have to go home and stick together.”
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