Practice Inauguration Lacks Some Pomp and the VIPs

Gallery

Inauguration Practice

Starting before dawn, officials staged a large-scale rehearsal of the upcoming presidential inauguration and parade, with thousands of people deployed later in the morning at the Capitol and along the parade route.

» LAUNCH PHOTO GALLERY

"We're struggling a little bit," said Thomas Groppel, the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee's director of ceremonies who helped lead the rehearsal and seemed to be everywhere. "Everybody understanding their cues. Everybody understanding their parts. We'll get there."

The parade route was dotted with spectators and workers who hammered away at viewing stands in front of the White House and the John A. Wilson Building.

Painters in white jumpsuits could be seen along Pennsylvania Avenue. They were putting fresh coats of brown paint on light poles. "Gotta spruce it up," one painter said. "Next week, we'll be painting the eagles."

Eagles adorn the tops of dozens of Victorian-style lampposts on the street. Now a faded silver, they will be painted gold for the inauguration, the painter said.

Jackie Engelhardt, 59, a self-proclaimed "news junkie" from Fairfax, attended the rehearsal to photograph the inaugural parade without crowds blocking her view.

Engelhardt and her husband, Jim, have created a "presidential wall" at home, depicting both of President George W. Bush's inaugurations and one of President Bill Clinton's, plus their official inaugural invitations and scenes of Washington.

Engelhardt said the wall will allow her to pass history down to her son and eventually his children. This inauguration, she said, is more historic than any other because of the broken racial barrier, something she thought she would never see happen.

"I've never seen Washington with such a buzz in the 12 years we've lived here," Jim Engelhardt said. "It's a palpable excitement, and it's all good."

Myra Copus, 67, of Annapolis said Obama fever couldn't have caught on at a better time.

"If we didn't have him to look forward to, I think we'd be in quite a mental tailspin," said Copus, who attended the University of Georgia when it was still segregated. "Of course, he's human, so we have to keep our expectations realistic, but it feels so good."

Copus and her friend Joanne Brew, also of Annapolis, said that they would love to attend the inauguration but that the rehearsal was close enough to the real thing to enable them to enjoy the actual parade on television.

Special correspondent Janie Boschma contributed to this report.