Obamapalooza!

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Nov 5, 2008 12:25AM

Grant Park and the surrounding areas are packed with people with and without tickets to witness history. We've got several staff members and readers down at the park and we'll be keeping you as up-to-date with happenings at the park as we can via texts, twitter, flickr, and other updates.

11:40 p.m. - Things have ended peacefully and our correspondents are among the masses filing out of Grant Park.

10:58 p.m. - The Obamas take the stage.

10:40 p.m. - For those of us at home, CSPAN has an uninterrupted feed of the Grant Park festivities.

10:30 p.m. - The Obama crowd salutes McCain for his concession speech with polite applause.

10:15 p.m. - Tim says the final sound check is underway.

10:10 p.m. - As Obama is declared President, Tim says, "Chants, cheers, tears, embraces, high fives...chants of 'Yes We Did.'"

9:50 p.m. - When Joe Lieberman appears on the CNN feed, the crowd gets a hint of anger according to our people. Photo by sfmoe.

9:30 p.m. - Correction - seems Obama is on his way to the hotel (Hyatt Regency?) before the park.

9:15 p.m. - Photo from runjenrun01.

9:05 p.m. - Tim gets a tip from...the RedEye, who say Barack is on his way to the park.

Photo from JOE M500.

8:48 p.m. - Photo from jen and joe.

8:44 p.m. - "Sound checks...sound guy adds 'Obama' to his audio/video sync. Foreplay for the crowd."

8:37 p.m. - From Tim: "The crowd is all atwit that Oprah is going to come out."

7:36 p.m. - From Tim: "CNN cuts to a live shot from here. Crowd goes wild. Am I at a Lionel Ritchie concert?"

7:12 p.m. - CNN is reporting Obama will be speaking from behind glass plates onstage.

6:55 p.m. - From Tim - A recorded message welcomes guests to Grant Park... Just like Disneyworld.

6:40 p.m. - From what we can tell, it appears all the jumbotrons in Grant Park are tuned to CNN to keep attendees posted on the current results.

6:38 p.m. - Our Tim State reports Millennium Park is....closed. Onward to Grant Park.

6:20 p.m. - It looks like gates have opened over 2 hours earlier than originally planned.