Election Night 2008

We were honored with tickets for the Obama Election Night party in Grant Park, Chicago IL, USA. Below are our tickets.

Hi. I'm Mel the writer and photographer.

The line to get into the party was eight blocks long. I'm sure it took some people over an hour to gain entry. Once you got in, we spent the evening watching the giant TV. Personally, I never even saw the stage. When CNN said something good we cheered.

The crowd of around 70,000 people were in a very friendly mood. Everyone spoke to everyone. Smiles were all around you. The crowd was very diverse, every age and race. [I never got a good picture of an African-American. A combination of low available light and movement was the problem. But they were well represented in the crowd.]

While you could not bring any signs into the Park, a few flags made it in.

Here are some members of the Governor State University staff. Linda Buyer, Marsha Katz and Alexis Kennedy.

It was amazing the number of different shirts and buttons people had.

Some people sat on a hill a far distance from the stage.

Other people got as close as they could.

Some needed help, just to see the TV screen.

A few police were visible. Quite honestly there were less than I expected.

The crowd was LARGE.

My favorite hard hat.

A family in rapture.

All eyes forward.

Obama's victory speech, heard live but seen on the screen.

On the way out, we passed the trucks that sent the speech to the world. These are only a few of the many, many trucks.