Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign will hold what it hopes will be an Election Night celebration in Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois on November 4 – 5, 2008. The official Nov. 4 event, in south Grant Park’s Hutchison Field, will begin at 9 p.m. and end at 1 a.m. on Nov. 5, according to the Obama campaign. Tickets for the Obama rally inside Hutchinson Field are gone, however, Mayor Richard Daley expects more than 1 million people to attend in the surrounding vicinity.
Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign says the election night celebration in Grant Park is for 65,000 spectators, plus 7,500 media members and campaign workers, according to the application filed with the Chicago Park District.
Grant Park is a large public space between the Loop and lakeshore in downtown Chicago, Illinois. The Obama event is expected to take place on the south end of the park in an area known as Hutchison Field.
As for security measures, attendees should prepare to pass through metal detectors and have their possessions searched, just as at all Obama events. The process is similar to going through airport security and can create lines blocks long, as was the case at a recent Obama event under the Gateway Arch in St. Louis that attracted an estimated 100,000 people.
In the hours before and during the event, locals should not be surprised to see snipers and security agents with binoculars positioned on the roofs of buildings and other high structures. That often takes place when Obama holds outdoor events.
If people want to dance in joy, they may have to hum to themselves: The Obama Election Night rally application says there will be no live or amplified music — “spoken word only.’’
Hot dogs, pizza and hot chocolate will be sold; alcohol will not, according to the campaign.
Meanwhile, Mayor Daley said the Obama campaign’s decision to require tickets at the Grant Park rally — and to stop issuing tickets on Wednesday — would not alter the city’s meticulous preparation for a rally that could draw more than a million people. “There’s only one section that will have tickets,’’ he said.
For those not ticketed, Daley cited the area around Columbus and Balbo for “the general public.”
Daley said the event could include giant video screens for people without tickets to see Obama’s speech. A stage was being built near Columbus and Roosevelt Drives and portable heaters were unloaded from trucks, according to reports.
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