Savannahians Celebrate Obama Inauguration with Black & White Gala


President-elect Barack Obama
President-elect Barack Obama

If you want to commemorate the historic inauguration of Barack Obama and are not going to Washington, D.C, the Savannah Business League (SBL) and Chatham County Democratic Committee (CCDC) have an exciting option. Pat Mathis and Janice Shay, co-chairs of the Inaugural Gala Steering Committee that is planning the gala, say SBL and CCDC will host Savannah’s firstever “Black & White Inaugural Gala” on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. Mathis and Shay both affirm the evening will be a vision of black and white, with black and white décor and black and white attire.”

Mathis, SBL Executive Board Member, hopes this collaboration will be the beginning of many with CCDC. She says, “We thought this would be a perfect opportunity for us to come together to host an event to celebrate this historic election in style.” “The committee’s purpose for the gala is to bring the local citizenry, and business, faith, political, and community leaders together in a grand celebration,” says Shay, CCDC’s newly elected president. She said, “The event’s theme, “Together We Can” couldn’t be more appropriate.”

The gala will also have exclusive video footage of Savannah’s own Alfred Ely Beach High School Choir, who will travel to Washington, D.C. and give a history-making performance at the inauguration. Warren Hickman, CCDC Vice-Chair, says, “Our video footage will give us a front row seat of Savannah’s participation.” Hickman said, “We will have several wide-screens replaying the presidential swearing in ceremony, exclusive live footage of Washington, D.C. celebrations, video footage of Beach High choir’s historic participation in the inauguration, plus dinner, live music, and dancing.

Mathis says, “We wanted to provide an event with the ambiance of Washington, D.C. here in Savannah at as low a cost as possible. So many people – young, old, black, white, rich, poor, Democrat, and Republican – want to commemorate the election of the nation’s first African American president.” They want to celebrate change, hope, and a renewed faith in the belief that together we can achieve great things. We’ve had a great deal of interest and expect guests from as far away as Atlanta and surrounding states.

For sponsorship information, contact Gunner Hall, (912) 224-0230. For more information about the Black & White Gala, call Carolyn Allen at (888) 671-5551 or email: callen@onebox.com, or Warren Hickman, Chatham County Democratic Committee at (912) 790-8683 or visit www.chathamdems.com.

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