They say they’ll have a jumbotron at the non-ticketholder field–butler field, by the pertillo bandshell. Hopefully I will get a spot where I can see.
Yay! Thanks for the good news!
Just got home and thought I would pass this on before heading to bed:
There will be a jumbotron and speakers at Butler Field for those without tickets. Be aware that the city is limiting access to Grant Park. Some of the park will be closed tomorrow night. The estimate we were told for the Butler Field crowd is around 30,000. Get there early if possible (but don’t try to throw down blankets and walk away like some people today).
Tomorrow night will be a hell of a ride. Pictures and video do not do the site justice. Everyone have fun but be safe!
I have to get up early to vote and then head downtown so I’m off to bed.
Well, that was exciting. Even from the nosebleed seats. 
My feet hurt SOOOOOOOO bad right now!
It was…interesting in it’s boringness. It was standing room only, and by standing, I mean just that. No walking, no moving around really at all, barely room for white girl dancing. Yet it was oddly calm, even serene. People were chatty and made eye contact and were really just plain nice, unlike a game or the fireworks, so my crowd anxiety wasn’t triggered at all (until the mass of sheeple shuffled out at the end, then it got a little iffy.)
They opened the gates way before 8:30. We got there at 6:45, and there were already people inside. They funneled us through four different security checkpoints, culminating in metal detectors. Once we got in, we watched CNN, mostly, although they spared us the commercials by putting up a still and playing music. Alternated country and “urban” music.
That was pretty much it for the next 3 hours until some Bishop said a prayer, some other dude did the Pledge, some chick sang the National Anthem, poorly (and messed up at least four words in four different lines) and then we waited some more for Obama.
I think he might have been late or something, 'cause they showed this little energy building video, then played “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” and the crowd got pretty hyped up and then…nothing. Then some video of some limos making their way down what looked like Michigan Ave. Then some more crappy music. Finally about 15 minutes later, Obama showed up and gave his acceptance speech, which I’m sure you’ve seen or can YouTube.
We couldn’t get close enough to see the stage - well, my husband got a glimpse over the crowd, but couldn’t see any details. There was a large screen and good sound, but the crowd was so tightly packed and of course I ended up in back of four tall guys, so even seeing that for the speech was tricky and intermittent.
So, I’m not sorry I went, but Woodstock it wasn’t.
I’m exhausted and had a great time. I’ll post more tomorrow!
That chick was terrible with the Anthem. As she started it looked like it was going to be one of those butchered 9 minute versions of the song, then she started screwing up the words. I took great pleasure from the point about halfway through where the crowd took over, soon it was her singing with us instead of us singing with her.
All in all a great time. The standing around was tedious and watching CNN with a couple hundred thousand people is about as exciting as it sounds. However, once CNN flashed the announcement that Obama had won and everyone went batshit it became extremely cool. Then McCain came up and everyone got really quiet to listen to his concession speech, surprisingly respectful even before the speech started, and then McCain really hit his speech out of the park. The crowd was rapt and the good mojo was really flowing. Then there was the brief lull before Obama came out and just blew everyone away with the perfect speech. Just about all the women around me were weeping and I had chills. As the crowd got involved echoing his “Yes We Can” mantra the energy build and it made all the standing around worthwhile.
Perhaps the most memorable part was on the walk home, seeing massing groups of people just hanging out singing and chanting up Michigan Ave. Lots of people taking photos and soaking in the moment with a completely car-free downtown around you.
Just got home a little while ago (we stopped for a late dinner). It was fabulous, absolutely wonderful and magical. Kudos to everyone involved! Chicago knows how to put on a party.
We got to Grant Park just as they were calling Pennsylvania and there were a lot of people let in already. I have a pretty good nose for finding great spots to camp out and tonight was no exception. Seeing that the big packed crowds were to the middle and near the entrances, we skirted around the edge of the crowd and kept on walking, heading closer to the Jumbotron (which was in the northeast corner of Butler Field), where, to our surprise, the crowd kept thinning out. We found a spot just off to the side (downtown side) a bit. There were people all around us, but not in a crowded way. Up there we had plenty of room to spread a blanket out and sit on the ground. People in front of us were sitting too, so there weren’t any problems seeing the screen. In that area it was just like the outdoor film festival, lots of people but room for everyone to sit. I’m so glad it hadn’t rained recently. The weather was beautiful, cool but not cold (sweatshirt and/or light jacket weather), no chilly breezes, clear skies. It got a little cooler later, but I just put on a scarf and gloves and I was fine.
There were plenty of clean Port-a-Pottys (the ones I used were), people were friendly, excited, chatting, the Jumbotron was awesome, the speakers were clear with no distortion in the sound (though with a kinda fun echo from the speakers over by the ticketed section), everything, for us, was perfect. I would have preferred MSNBC to CNN coverage, but it was alright. Every state called for Obama elicited massive cheers and when the election was called, everyone went nuts, strangers hugging strangers, people around us crying (we were crying too of course), and just such joy and happiness. Everyone went nuts again when Obama showed up to give his amazing speech. I’m so proud of him and our country.
And yeah, after it was over, masses of people walking down the middle of Michigan Ave. was pretty awesome too. Minor anarchy with a grin.
We couldn’t hear the National Anthem over in Butler Field. I didn’t know about it until I read the posts. We didn’t get the Bishop’s prayer either, just Wolf Blitzer. All in all, I’m really glad I didn’t get tickets to go to the Hutchinson side. Except for, well, not seeing Obama in the flesh, we were very happy where we were.
We were right behind four talls guys as well. Maybe we were rubbing elbows! 
I had a great time. The elation and emotion of the crowd when Barack was projected the winner was overwhelming.
I can’t imagine how amazing it would have been to be there. We got choked up just watching it on CNN.
I was close enough to see the stage (if I stood on tip toes) and I really don’t think it was boring as those above have said. I had a lot of fun cheering and booing results as they came in. My throat hurts today from yelling so much.
I do wish I had brought a better camera. All my pictures show President-Elect Obama as a rather small blur. I got some good crowd shots, although that’s pretty easy when you’re surrounded by 70,000 people.
I ended up having a pretty great time with some really sore feet.
We were waiting for some others to join us when we saw the crowd on Congress on CNN - uh oh, TIME TO LEAVE! So we walked from the apartment on Jefferson (by the way, one side street allowed for parking so I was able to park there), meeting a couple of others along the way. We finally made it up to the mobs and went through the first two checkpoints pretty quickly.
I was surprised that they looked at my ticket and ID, but never scanned it. Huh. I guess you could have just photoshopped a ticket of your own. Well, we got caught at the third checkpoint for a long time - maybe 30 minutes? The last checkpoint (metal detectors) actually went very quickly, just a couple of minutes.
When we first got in, we decided that if there ever was a time to get in line for food, that was it. So we got in line just in front of Joe from season one of “Beauty and the Geek” for some seriously expensive Connie’s Pizza. Charging $5 for a slice or $40 for a whole pizza? YES THEY CAN, apparently.
We settled in about 3/4 of the way back with some extra space and a nice view of the jumbotron. We were probably 50 feet back from one of the huge camera rigs. If I stood on my tip-toes, I could see the area with the flags, but I never did see the actual stage from there. Near us, the atmosphere was really excited and was generally a lot of fun. For the most part, it was just standing around waiting for things to happen, but I had a lot of fun because that was almost exactly what I expected anyway. I was very happy that they bothered with the CNN feed so we could always be apprised of what was going on.
As each state came in, we either cheered or booed, although the booing was pretty half-hearted. It was clear that the crowd around me came to celebrate, not to riot. When they announced for Obama, everybody went crazy. Eventually McCain’s concession speech came up to an almost completely silent crowd. The exceptions were cheers for some of McCain’s speech and a big BOOOOO when he thanked Sarah Palin.
As others have mentioned, we got a nice dose of “WTF?” when the singer kept screwing up the words to the national anthem. Obama’s speech was fantastic and moving, despite the fact that I was pretty much just watching it on TV like everyone else at home! We finally saw him with our own eyes when we were leaving and walking up the incline to exit. The streets were chaotic - people everywhere, vendors hawking cheap Obama wares, cars laying on their horns, and tons of screaming. All told, though, a happy, upbeat crowd and I saw no violence or even rudeness. On top of all that - the roads were completely clear so I was home in a half hour!
So for the most part it was just standing around, but the moments of excitement more than made up for everything else.
Even though I was working it was an incredible experience.
In terms of watching history happen there is nothing I can add to what has already been said. The crowd was great–no problems that couldn’t be handled with a polite but firm suggestion to act civilized. It’s hard to put into words exactly what it was like to be there last night.
Would it be impolite to brag about something? Of course the highlight of the night was watching President-elect Obama give his speech. I still get goose bumps thinking about it. Putting that to the side, the other highlight of the night was this:
I met Oprah.
And she hugged me.
[George Costanza] And I think it moved.[/GC]
For some reason I was assigned to the VIP area where Oprah, Jesse Jackson (met him also) and the rest of the celebrities watched Obama speak. I say for some reason because I’m not the most polite guy in the world and I was worried I might piss someone off. Thankfully no celebrities or VIPs were harmed last night.
On preview it appears that I’m starting to ramble, no doubt because I’ve been awake since Tuesday morning. I’m glad everyone had a safe and fun time.
Convict, how bad was the mess when we all left? I was really horrified at the number of plates, pizza boxes and bottles we were stepping over on our way out. I’m rather ashamed of the Chicago Democrats for leaving behind such a mess for someone else to clean up. Aren’t we supposed to be the ones who care about pollution and environmental causes? Starts with picking up your trash, people! I picked up what I could grab quickly without getting trampled, but it wasn’t enough to begin to make a dent. 
(Oh, and I’d totally be googly about getting a hug from Oprah. Not just because she’s Oprah, but because the woman looks like she’d give great hugs!)
Yeah, we always take out trash with us when we leave any event, and it’s a shame other people don’t. However, all of the trash cans we saw going in were packed full and piled high, which surprised us.
This was a fascinating tidbit I just read. I had been wondering why they didn’t have the stage facing the lake, instead of facing downtown. My husband and I even commented fretfully, looking at our beautiful skyline, “there are an awful lot of windows, an awful lot.” Turns out I shouldn’t have worried.
every now and again a camera angle would catch the bullet proof glass. at first i thought telepromter… then realised it was way to big.
smart move and really rather unobtrusive.
convict, i’m totally jealous of your meet with ms. winfrey.