Bookstores to Host Inauguration Celebrations

To mark the historic occasion of Barack Obama's presidential inauguration on January 20, indie booksellers are creating unique ways to celebrate and educate. Events run the gamut from "homey" gatherings to an inaugural ball, from stimulating panel discussions to advocacy efforts in support of local community organizations.

Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is hosting an inauguration "Living Room" where neighbors and friends are invited to "join us for this stupendously historic and happy mid-day occasion" to watch the swearing-in and address live. The free event starts at 11:30 a.m., and the bookstore will be serving champagne, straight up or in mimosas. Those who don't fit into the main viewing room can watch the broadcast on other monitors in the store.

Harvard's Melissa Cook said of the event, "We'll be showing the inauguration on a big-screen TV, and we're going to make things somewhat 'homey' for the occasion. Before noon, as people take their seats, we're planning on playing the audiotape of Audacity of Hope overhead. We're also going to have one of those life-size Obama cutouts standing somewhere in the store. But we'll be sure not to distract from the main event, which is so momentous it's hard to fathom."

In Manchester Center, Vermont, Northshire Bookstore will host an informal community get together. Events Coordinator Linda Ellingsworth said, "We'll show a live video in our events space for anybody who wants to catch it on their lunch hour, but can't get home to watch it. We're just doing this on the fly as a little service to the community."

This is the first inauguration event the bookstore will be hosting, but Northshire's owners "felt strongly about the implications of the event," said Ellingsworth. "We wanted to do whatever we could to share it with the customers."

Part of "Obamarama," a weeklong celebration at Politics and Prose Bookstore & Coffeehouse, will be an open house party for the inauguration where those who "don't want to go all the way downtown and deal with millions of people" can hang out in comfort and watch the whole thing unfold on a big screen TV, said Mark LaFramboise. Starting at 11:00 a.m., the bookstore will be serving champagne, popcorn, and other snacks to toast the new president, and a storewide 20-percent off sale will run all day for P&P members.

Other store happenings throughout the week include events featuring Adam Cohen (Nothing to Fear, Penguin), Mark Green (Change for America, Basic Books), Evan Thomas (A Long Time Coming, PublicAffairs), and Gwen Ifill (The Breakthrough, Doubleday).

In Texas, Austin's BookPeople is hosting a pre-inauguration event for teens on January 15 to boost "advocacy and involvement." Authors Bob Carlton and Ariele Gentiles (Barack Obama: An American Story, Zondervan/Youth Specialties) will facilitate an open conversation around the questions: "Who did we just elect? What should I do if I supported him? What should I do if I opposed him? What should I do if I don't care?" The event was created to get teens "encouraged, inspired, and challenged to look at the world around them and see how they can take their own improbable journey to change it."

"We hope to have a good-sized audience ready to discuss and predict all of the potential changes that America has to look forward to," said Mandy Brooks, BookPeople's children's events coordinator. "It should be a lively crowd."

At Chicago's 57th Street Books/Seminary Co-op where President-elect Obama and his family are customers, members, and former neighbors, General Manager Jack Cella said the level of excitement is unparalleled, and the bookstore will be encouraging community involvement by creating a poster advocating support for two local nonprofits. The poster reads in part, "There are many appropriate ways to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama, a member of our community and of this Co-op, as the 44th President of the United States, and to celebrate the hope that his election has generated. We at the Seminary Co-op/57th Street Books feel that one appropriate way would be to contribute support to a local institution facing growing demands for its services: the Hyde Park & Kenwood Hunger Programs, which runs a soup kitchen in North Kenwood and a community food pantry in Hyde Park. As the economy has worsened, both programs have seen a sharp increase in demand in recent months...."

Cella told BTW that he'd like to use a time of great historical significance to encourage others to "contribute money that would be helpful to this local community that we're all a part of."

On January 20, the Cleveland location of Joseph-Beth Booksellers will host a gala "Inaugural Ball at the Bookstore." All are invited to a "bipartisan evening celebrating and honoring the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States." Cocktail attire is required. Admission is $40 per person, or $70 per couple, and includes a champagne toast and hors d'oeuvres, a $10 Joseph-Beth gift card, a copy of Barack Obama's Change We Can Believe In (Three Rivers), and more.

Joseph-Beth Marketing Manager Sharon Dundee said the event, created for "all those who want to be in Washington," is a "great way to celebrate and be part of the local community at the same time."

Some bookstores are developing plans to celebrate the Obama presidency next month and onward. In downtown New York City, McNally Jackson Books is creating both a display and a panel discussion -- called "How History Was Made: Barack by the Book" -- a comprehensive look at the books and the writers that shaped Obama's intellectual foundation.

McNally Jackson's John McGregor described the display as "a bird's-eye view of the wide range of reading that honed the world-view of the president."

For the panel discussion, which will take place in mid-February, the bookstore is gathering an eclectic group of writers and thinkers to consider, among other ideas, what Obama's past reading choices might say about the kind of president he'll be. --Karen Schechner