ELECTION DAY AND OBAMA CELEBRATION

They are saying that about 200,000 - 250,000 people showed up for the event, but the mayor was always saying there would be a million. Most people I know said they did not want to get involved in a crowd like that and decided to stay home. Others were afraid that if Obama lost the crowd would go on a rampage. Others thought if he won they would go on a rampage. Neither happened and is was quiet and orderly at all times, other than cheering when predictions were made that he had taken a state. No alcohol was permitted and everyone was on their best behavior.
The police were fantastic and everything was highly organized. Near the end it was a sea of people no matter where you looked.

• This is a Chicago Tribune photo that my friend Lynn Eldridge sent me after she saw it. I was not aware of it until then. It is from their on-line site. This was standing in line at the curved area by Congress, next to Michigan Ave. That's me near the front with the cap. I had no idea anyone was taking a picture as everyone was taking pictures all the time.

• I took this on the west side of Michigan Ave. as I was crossing to get in line. This was about 1:30pm in the afternoon. Congress by the big pylons, runs east and west. This is the northern arch off of Michigan Ave. where the "non-ticketed" people lined up. South, on the other arched street was for "ticketed" people. The distribution of the tickets was a mystery as many people, including myself, were under the impression we would get one. I didn't, so we were sent to the field north of Buckingham Fountain. The fountain area is currently chain linked off, with canvas coverings. It separated us from the area when the ticketed people went. There had to be as many people in my area, if not more, than the ticketed area. We watched large screens all night.

• Numerous characters showed up and paraded around. This woman had the wildest costume.

• People took lots of photos of everyone.

• Another person in line. I was astounded at the age of most of the people at the celebration. They all seemed to be in the 20s.

• Selling drawings (Reproductions).

• Many of the people had Obama t-shirts on and there were vendors selling them as well. It was surprising how many different designs have been made.

• This was the "first" line. It was along the curb and when it reached from the top of the arched street, down to Michigan Ave., They sent people up to the front to start a line next to it. I ended up in the second line as I didn't realize the people sitting along the curb were "a line".

• Chalk drawing.

• This guy had a very unusual chant he did and he could keep it up for hours without stopping. The photographers loved him.

• This photo was taken about half an hour after the previous one. He would assume odd poses as he chanted. I took this one as the photographers flocked to get his picture.

• This pretty much explains the situation.

• A lot of people wanted to pet the dogs.

• I was surprised to see that Obama had to stand in line as well. Everyone wanted their picture taken with him.

• Your's truely waiting for them to let us proceed to the security area and then go over the bridge to the area where we would be viewing the events on the large TV screens.

• This photo and the one above were taken by Alice McMahon, a woman standing in line in front of me. We took photos of each other with our respective cameras.

• These women are walking across Congress. The "unticketed" people were behind me and this image is looking cross the street at the "ticketed" line beginning to form. The ticketed peole were held in an area for hours after they got through security as no one was permitted in the area where Obama would appear, until a specific hour. We were permitted to immediately go to the northern area.

• Approaching Congress where we would turn left and go through security and then proceed across the bridge spanning the commuter railroad lines below. Once we crossed the bridge, we turned left up Columbus to the northern field. This photo was taken about 1:30pm before the second line was formed to the right of the curb.

• Looking back on the "third line" that was formed as we proceed to the bridge and through security. You could have smuggled an elephant in if you had wanted, but this was for those of us who did not have tickets and were going to the area away from where Obama and the ticketed people would be.

• Looking east on Congress. This was before they opened the area. The people in the background were there to stop you if you were taking anything into the area that was not permitted In the distance behind the fence is Buckingham Fountain that is undergoing renovation. We proceeded to the fence and turned left (north) on Columbia. Our area was to the right, just north of the fenced-off fountain area. The northern chain link fence and the southern ones both had canvas stretched over them so we could not see the southern area where the people with tickets would be. It was about a block away anyway. It was also lined with police officers to make certain no one tried to climb the high fence.

• After crossing the bridge, we turned north and walked about a block to the field that was to the right.

• Entering the field. It was still very early and we were probably the first two hundred people in the place. That is why it looks like no one is there.

• This was the view behind me from the picture taken above.

• Late in the afternoon after we were in the viewing area. These people were sitting next to me.

• Looking northwest. There was a high fence along the sidewalk by the buses and there were police officers near it as well so no one would try to climb it.

• Looking west, early in the evening.

• This was between 4:30 and 5:00pm when it started to get dark. Every few minutes people were arriving until there was no space on the ground and people were standing in crowds at the back. The area was designed to hold 40,000 and there were a lot more than that in the general area.

• This was taken at about the same time as the photo above. Most people had not arrived yet and this was furthest north on the field. There were about six TV screens in the area. At this point, most of the people were to our right.

• Looking north at dusk. For some reason almost every picture I took at night was blurred and was not worth saving. There was a building to the west that had an American flag outlined by lights but the photo was not good enough to save.

• Looking north at night.

• Photo taken from the Internet of people leaving the rally. The top of the picture is Grant Park and is east. The bottom left structure is the northern pylon near the bridge. It is the same one shown in some of the first pictures. This crowd stretched west for at least three or four blocks. All traffic and parking were forbidden from early afternoon until the people had left around 12:30am. The parking ban was from the river in the north, south to 22nd St. That is about a four mile area. The same from Lakeshore Drive on the east to the Dan Ryan Expressway on the west. They encouraged everyone to use public transportation as there would be no place to park.

Hyde Park and the Obamas

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I created this page on November 5, 2008 so I could send the photos and comments to friends. On November 9th, while at a function, people were approaching me, or had sent me emails that they enjoyed looking at it and had sent it on to others. I was surprised as these were people I had not sent the link to. Since at that time the page was not tied to my website, there would be no way of finding it if one had not been sent the link via an email. They indicated they had received it from a mutual friend. Due to the interest, I tied it to my website and thousands of people have viewed the photos since then.
R. Howard Courtney
November 17, 2008

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