Festival

Thanks to all who sent in photos and tagged photos in fickr. Due to the many entries I can only enter one photo per person (which is extremely difficult to do!).It was a phenomenal turn out and I’m afraid I can no longer accept entries. Of course you can still join the new flickr pool I created called PoPville photos. In the pool you can enter up to 3 photos a day capturing the beautiful life from any of our neighborhoods. So please feel free to add photos whenever you’d like!

Above is a photo from “The Hay Say”.

Below is an entry from Liz who writes: “Here’s a shot of two little girls, one from Vermont and the other from Ottawa, who trekked to DC for the big day.”

Below is a great shot of the crowds from Lauren who writes: “They were taken by my partner from the top of the jumbotron tower between 14th and 15th on the Mall where I was working production.”

I’m gonna need some help so let me know in the comments which one(s) you like the best. I still have more entries going up next week but I’d like to announce a winner and some honorable mentions next Friday. More entries after the jump. (more…)

photo by rossleetabak

Thanks to a reader for sending. It seems from reading about your experiences that here’s a good way to voice your frustrations over the inauguration ticket fiasco.
Sen. Feinstein Calls for Ticket Investigation and Asks Participants for Information.

Washington, DC—U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, today issued the following statement in response to reports of incidents which prevented a large number of ticketholders from reaching their designated areas at the 56th Presidential Inaugural Ceremony:

Following is Senator Feinstein’s statement:  Continues after the jump. (more…)

“I’m a local blogger who just commented on your blog about having purple tickets and not getting in. Attached is a picture of the narrow part of the 395 tunnel, where we and thousands of others who didn’t get in were stuck for hours. We were there over 3.5 hours.

Check out the crowd in the satellite photos at 1st and C and you can see how dense the group (almost all with tickets) who didn’t get in through the Purple Gate was: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/44.president/inauguration/mall.satellite/

Also attached is a photo from the Giant at Columbia Heights.. $60 for parking!!!”

So I’m dying to hear your stories. I’ve heard from a number of friends who had tickets to the inauguration but because of security glitches they weren’t able to get in. For the folks that went down – tell me – what was it like? How long did it take to get in and out? Anyone watch the parade?

I decided to watch the inauguration at the Red Derby and it was fantastic. It was projected on the wall and there were enough folks there to have a good community feel along with clapping, laughing, and cheering. Yet, it wasn’t so crowded that you couldn’t get food or drinks. I highly recommend this option four years from now.

Thanks to a reader for sending the above photo. Remember to send your photos to [email protected] or tag them in flickr with popobamaweekcontest.

So what was your favorite part of the festivities?