Locals heading to D.C., celebrating closer to home

LIMA - A lifelong progressive, Bluffton University history professor Perry Bush had grown used to "political disappointment."

Now, for the time, the person for whom he supported in a primary is headed to the White House, and Bush will be there to witness it.

Josiah Mathews can't be in D.C., but he is helping create a celebration in Lima and has his tuxedo ready for an inaugural ball in the city.

Whether in the capital or closer to home, people are celebrating the inauguration of Barack Obama as the country's 44th president.

The Presidential Inaugural Ball Tuesday is a formal event and includes live jazz and a cash bar. Mathews is going classic - black tux, black tie and bringing his optimism about the country.

"Even with everything going on, the wars, the economy and bailouts, I still have hope," Mathews said. "The theme of the inauguration is ‘new birth of freedom.' "

While the inaugural ball is sponsored by the Allen County Democratic Party Minority Caucus, Mathews doesn't think of the event as political.

"We're celebrating a new president being sworn in, and we're excited about the future," Mathews said. "We want everyone to come and celebrate that."

Bush is taking his family and a group of university Young Democrats to Washington for the event. The group will bunk down in sleeping bags in a Washington Mennonite church.

"I'm happy for the students. They worked very hard in a critical state to help put Obama in the White House," Bush said. "It's important for them to go down there and even from a distance witness this history being made."

As a progressive and a Mennonite, Bush understands he won't always agree with Obama, who's shown moderate tendencies through the transition. He does believe the political pendulum is swinging, however.

"I'm a Democrat, right?" Bush said. "It will be a lovely change to have someone who's competent, who will work with the other side, who will govern from the center."

Nancy Stephani, chair of the Hancock County Democratic Party, will host a party Tuesday at Waldo Peppers, with viewings of the inaugural speech and Obama's speech from Grant Park. The group also was planning involvement with the Martin Luther King walk sponsored by the Black Heritage Library and Multicultural Center.

"We're thrilled that Barack is going to try and get us out of this mess, and we're going to celebrate," Stephani said.

Knowing he would regret it if he didn't go, Jason Upthegrove, local chapter president of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People, is headed to Washington. He'll stay with a cousin and hop on the Metro, along with millions of others witnessing history.

"I feel like I'm going to represent several generations of my family, my mother, my grandmother, who experienced the struggle at a much deeper level than I can imagine," Upthegrove said.

Obama's election is historic, but not just racially, Upthegrove said. Obama mobilized a country and has people talking across party, class and race lines, he believes.

"That's what this is all about, that this is feasible: Not that we could have a black president, but that the country could come together outside of a time of crisis and raise a collective voice and say we can't do this separated any more. I just want to be a part of it."

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LOCAL EVENTS FOR, CONNECTIONS WITH PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION

Ways the region is celebrating the presidential inauguration abound. A list follows:

HAVE A PARTY

• Presidential Inaugural Ball, 7 p.m. to midnight Tuesday, UNOH Event Center, Lima. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. Formal attire is requested. Cash bar, live jazz, hors d'oeuvres, live feed of news events and balls from Washington. Sponsored by the Allen County Democratic Party Minority Caucus. Call 567-204-9807 for details.

• Hancock County Democrats Inauguration Party, 7 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, Waldo Peppers, Findlay. Guests responsible for own bar and food tabs. Call 419-348-2599 for details.

• Host a house party and participate in the inaugural Neighborhood Ball, linked through technology and a live broadcast on ABC, including performances by Beyonce and Faith Hill. Visit www.pic2009.org for details.

WATCH TV

• OSU-Lima will have a big screen television set up in the Galvin Hall game room.

• Lima Public Library will have inauguration coverage on television all day long at the main branch.

• At Owens Community College Findlay-area campus, the TV will be in the college conference center and activities include a presidential trivia contest and free copies of the Constitution.

MARCH IN THE PARADE

• The Ohio State University Marching Band will participate in the inaugural parade, playing "Beautiful Ohio," "The Buckeye Battle Cry" and "Fight the Team Across the Field." It will be the sixth inaugural parade for the band; it has marched for Presidents Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush and twice for President George W. Bush.

• The Lincoln Highway National Museum and Archives' 1968 Maxim Fire Truck will participate in the parade. Riding the truck will be Mickey Rooney, who sang the Lincoln Highway theme song, "God's Country," in the 1939 movie "Babes in Arms."

GIVE BACK

• Auglaize County Democrats held a nonperishable food drive Saturday, answering Barack Obama's call to service in connection with the inauguration and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

• Other events, including volunteer opportunities at the West Ohio Food Bank and American Red Cross blood drives, happen Monday. Visit www.usaservice.org for details or to list your event.

BE THERE

• Several people, including groups of students from Bluffton University and Ohio Northern University, are traveling to Washington to join millions for the event. Some of them even have tickets.

• Daryl Upshaw Jr. is hosting a charter bus trip to and from Washington from Monday night to Wednesday morning for $150. The trip does not include overnight accommodations. Call 614-446-5112 for details.