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Move Over, Roller Derby! It's The Florida Inaugural Ball!

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By BILLY HOUSE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 7, 2009

WASHINGTON - Whether it's the shiny new convention center or the historical Union Station in the nation's capital, the locations of some official inaugural balls Jan. 20 will give bragging rights to the states chosen for those venues.

But for Florida, Texas and nine other Southern states, Barack Obama's presidential inauguration committee has selected a ball site with a more earthy pedigree: D.C.'s National Guard armory.

If Obama is viewed by some as elegant or even elitist, the setting for this "Southern State Ball," one of eight state or regional balls set by the committee, is anything but elitist.

Events usually at home in this circa-1941 facility include women's roller derby, professional wrestling, boxing, horse shows, circuses and, soon, indoor football.

The armory's Web site states: "It's a year-round parade of exciting events in an historic showplace."

As with the seven other officially sanctioned inaugural state-regional balls, Obama and his wife, Michelle, are expected to drop by as ceremonial hosts. Unlike the venues for those other state balls, the armory is not near the U.S. Capitol, National Mall, monuments and museums or the White House.

Rather, it is two miles from the Capitol, across the street from a stadium abandoned for a glitzier site by major league baseball's worst team, the Washington Nationals. Fortunately, there is a subway (Metro) stop there.

Tickets to these eight official regional-state balls cost $150. However, tickets are only available to "invited guests" – mostly top politicos or Obama pals and insiders.

State groupings for these balls by region are typical. In previous years, Floridians were grouped with fewer states and landed far swankier settings for their officially sanctioned inaugural galas.

In celebration of President George W. Bush's second inauguration, in 2005, for instance, the official state ball for Floridians was at the convention center. For Bush's first inauguration, in 2001, the location was D.C.'s historical Pension Building. In 1997, Floridians celebrated President Bill Clinton's second inauguration at an official ball at the then-downtown convention center.

This year, it almost seems as though Southern states -- even Florida and North Carolina, which backed Obama in the general election -- are being punished by Obama's official inauguration organizers for some reason.

Inaugural Committee spokesman Melanie Roussell says that's not the case.

"We expect the event at the armory to be a lovely affair, apart from the congestion downtown," she said, adding that the armory can handle the large number of people expected to attend an 11-state ball.

Andre Johnson, a public relations specialist who works for the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., said the armory can hold up to 10,000 partygoers - and there aren't many alternative venues in the city that can do that.

The location, to be sure, has had its share of shining moments in inauguration history. Frank Sinatra sang for a ball there in celebration of President John Kennedy's inauguration.

In fact, Johnson said the armory has been a regular site for inauguration balls.

President Bush has held several fundraising events there - "even bringing his own air conditioning" one day. (It was in August, Johnson said.)

"At first glance, you see an older, 75-year-old facility that doesn't have many modern upgrades. And if you had a choice, of course, you'd want to go with the convention center or Union Station," Johnson said. But there have been refurbishments, including upgrades to the bathrooms and the floor.

"Given that space is a major issue," he said, "the armory is premium space."

The locations for two "unofficial" inauguration parties being put on by Floridians are set for much swankier locations.

A sold-out "Sunshine and Stars 2009 Florida Inauguration Ball" will be held on the evening of Jan. 19 at the prestigious Corcoran Gallery of Art, near the White House. And a Florida reception also is set for the evening of Jan. 20 at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at 1 (202) 662-7673 or bhouse@tampatrib.com.

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