Inauguration Party

I was part of an Inauguration Party on Tuesday Night. The local Democratic Party made arrangements with a local restaurant to host a big dinner and fest for the nught of January 20, since many people had to work and would miss the Inauguration live.

It was held at Crawdaddy's, a New Orleans style place. People were asked to RSVP in advance in order not to overbook. We wound up with 227 attendees at $15 each. The admission included a dinner. This did not quite cover the costs. The local Party (the Central Committee) also raised some funds with a 50-50 drawing, in which a woman won $318, and by the sale of merchandise. So all in all it probably about broke even. The mood was festive and jubilant, as you might expect it to be among politically interested people when their candidate has just assumed the presidency.

I was the MC for the evening. The event was held on two floors, so pretty much everything had to be announced on one floor and then duplicated on the other. We had a fine black gospel singer on the second floor. The four local Democratic Clubs had their presidents introduced themselves to the crowd and invited people to join. The four clubs were the Visalia Democratic Club, Tulare Democratic Club, Democratic Women of Tulare County and The College of the Squoias Young Democrats.

We had three speakers. Victor Moheno of Visalia is a local attorney and longtime Democratic activist talked mostly about issues. Dean Singh had been a delegate to the National Convention in Denver and spoke of his experience there. Finally, Jake Torrance spoke on the impact on society from the perspective of an African-American.

After that everyone was invited to crowd into the second floor to watch two video presentations. First, local Tulare resident Stan Carter had produced an 8-minute piece that included interviews with African-American senior citizens speaking about their reactions to this momentous election, considering everything they have been through. That was followed by a showing of the swearing in and President Obama's Inaugural Address.

Doors opened at 6:00 and we said good night shortly after 9:00. Many who participated were surprised to see so many celebrating Dems in this majority Republican county. There was also extensive coverage in the local press and even on television news. You can read the Visalia Times-Delta story here. It was a great day for Democrats and Obama supporters in Tulare County.