Published: January 21, 2009 01:07 am      

INAUGURATION: Taking in a moment in history

Residents brave the crowds, cold for Obama’s inauguration

Inspiring, emotional, historic, frantic, exhausting.

Those are just a few of the words used to describe the inauguration of President Barack Obama — as told by local residents who were among the more than one million in attendance Tuesday.

“Other than my daughter being born, this was the greatest experience of my life,” proclaimed Melinda Holiday, who drove from Niagara Falls to Washington, D.C. just to be in the same city as Obama. “We didn’t plan it out very well, and the crowds were too big to even get anywhere close, but we were there to witness history and I will remember this trip forever.”

For the most part, cold temperatures, shoulder-to-shoulder crowds and long delays in transportation throughout the day did not dampen the spirits of Holiday and other locals, some who left their warm beds several hours before sunrise to try and secure a spot inside or near the National Mall.

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Niagara Falls resident Allen Booker left his friend’s house in Baltimore at 5:30 a.m. and actually drove 30 minutes away from Washington, D.C. to catch a train near the University of Maryland, one of the few that hadn’t been sold out. Despite arriving in close proximity to the inauguration site, his ticket to sit in the purple section proved to be useless. Like thousands of others, Booker waited in lines just to get past security and remained there as the ceremony was set to begin.

As the minutes ticked away, Booker and some newly formed friends decided to get out of line and watch the inauguration at a nearby center on television.

“I was a little upset, but I had no choice,” he said Tuesday afternoon after arriving back in Baltimore. “I spent a lot of money and wanted to be there for the moment so I was hesitant to go somewhere else to watch it.”

Despite the letdown, Booker said he has no regrets about making the trip. He’s disappointed the city couldn’t do a better job handling the crowds and moving people through the lines in a timely fashion but said he’s amazed at the volume of people wanting to be a part of history.

“You really had to camp out over night to get a spot inside,” he said. “It was still a wonderful experience to see so many different people all in one place. Every melting pot in the world was represented. It was absolutely unbelievable.”

Niagara Falls High School graduate Sadè Peterson and other members of the National Youth Leadership Forum who received tickets left their hotel at 2 a.m. in order to be at the gates when they opened at 7 a.m. She described the daylong experience as exhausting, but exciting.

“I don’t think we thought about it at first, but then someone said ‘wow, we are here for this,’ ” she said. “It’s amazing.”

Those who didn’t have tickets found it just as tough to find comfortable spots along surrounding streets, where Jumbotrons were set up for viewing. Niagara Falls resident G. Joshua Anderson managed to secure spots for his wife, Jeserae Latte and two children Joshua, 16, and Phoenix, 9, about 100 feet from the Washington monument. To do so, they parked their car more than 5 miles away and walked the rest of the way in the cold. By the time they arrived, their bodies were aching and their feet were frozen, but their spirits were high.

“We were glad to be one of the few people from Niagara Falls who were able to be there,” Anderson said. “Throughout the day, I kept asking my children if they would’ve rather not have done this, and they kept answering they wanted to be there, despite what we had to go through. I think if I didn’t bring my kids and my wife with me, I would’ve robbed them of a tremendous experience.”

The family was driving home Tuesday evening and Anderson said both of his kids would be attending school today with a few new stories to tell.

“We were outside in the elements for eight hours and it wasn’t an easy thing,” he said. “But then I noticed how many people were there, some 75 years older than my children, who endured the same thing. I know it’s supposed to be about the president, but what I saw was about people and the human spirit.”