Facts about North Carolina’s 2009 inauguration:

WHEN & WHERE: 10 a.m. Saturday, in front of the Office of Archives & History Building, 109 E. Jones St., Raleigh. This will be the seventh time the building has been the site for the inauguration, dating back to 1981 and the second term of Gov. Jim Hunt. The event, which is open to the public, will begin with a concert, followed by the actual ceremony at 10:30 a.m. About 5,000 chairs will be set up for the event.

WHO: The ten members of the Council of State elected in November will be sworn in to office, capped by administration of the oath of office for Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue by state Supreme Court Chief Justice Sarah Parker. Incumbents getting sworn in for additional four-year terms are Attorney General Roy Cooper; Secretary of State Elaine Marshall; Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry; Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson; and Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler.

NEWCOMERS: Four people will begin their first terms on the Council: Walter Dalton as lieutenant governor; Beth Wood, state auditor; Janet Cowell, state treasurer; and Wayne Goodwin, insurance commissioner.

CEREMONY HIGHLIGHTS: Television icon Andy Griffith, a Manteo resident, will give a special reading. William Swart, 12, of Fuquay-Varina, will lead the Pledge of Allegiance. Swart’s father is a National Guard member training to deploy to Iraq. A military flyover and 19-gun salute for Perdue also are expected. Outgoing Gov. Mike Easley, Hunt and former Gov. Jim Holshouser are scheduled to attend.

PARADE AND OPEN HOUSE: The inaugural parade will begin at 12:30 p.m. and travel up Fayetteville Street north toward the old Capitol building. The Executive Mansion, located at 200 N. Blount St., will be open to the public from 2:30-5:30 p.m.

PRAYER SERVICE: An Inaugural Service for Prayer and Worship will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the historically black First Baptist Church on Capitol Square in downtown Raleigh. The event is open to the public.

HAVING A BALL: The Junior League of Raleigh again will host the Inaugural Ball on Friday night from 9 p.m.-midnight at the new Raleigh Convention Center. A Gala Presentation for ball participants begins at 8 p.m. and features performers Branford Marsalis, Eric Church and Vienna Teng, among others. Tickets for the ball and gala are $125 and can still be purchased one hour before Friday’s event. The governor-elect’s reception is sold out. For information, go to http://www.ncgovernorsball.com or call 919-783-8863.

WHO’S PAYING: The state has a $250,000 budget for putting on the inauguration, excluding events organized by the Junior League of Raleigh. The actual expenses for these events will fall well below that amount, said Tim Crowley, a spokesman for Perdue’s inauguration. The ball and other Junior League festivities are sponsored by corporations, outside groups and individuals. Net proceeds from the League events will go to the League’s new Center for Community Leadership to benefit nonprofits statewide.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Volunteers are working hard to make sure the inaugural ball goes off with out a hitch. About 400 volunteers will have put in 21,000 hours by the time the festivities are over.

Events kick of on Thursday with the Gala Presentation and Inaugural Ball on Friday.

This year’s event organized by the Junior League of Raleigh will benefit the league’s newest initiative, the Center for Community Leadership.

“Because of the economy and the impact it’s having on our North Carolina non-profit sector, we are really excited about offering these new training programs, meeting space and networking opportunities free of cost to our non-profits,” said Junior League of Raleigh President , Virginia Yopp.

Tickets are still available, click here for more information.

The series of events honoring all the newly elected officials can be found at http://www.ncgovernorsball.org and also is listed below:

Council of State Reception
January 8, 2009, 6:30 p.m.- 8:30 p.m.
Raleigh Marriott City Center
$125 per person
Rock the Ball
sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline and University of Phoenix
January 8, 2009, 9 p.m. – midnight
Lincoln Theatre
$20 per person

Governor’s Reception
January 9, 2009, 5:30 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Raleigh Convention Center
North Carolina’s Finest Gala Presentation
January 9, 2009, 8 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Raleigh Convention Center
$200 per person (includes an inaugural ball ticket)

Inaugural Ball
January 9, 2009, 9 p.m. – midnight
Raleigh Convention Center
$125 per person

Inauguration Ceremony
Jan. 10, 2009 – 10:30 a.m.
State Archives
109 Jones St., Raleigh
Followed by the Parade and open house at the Governor’s Mansion.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President-elect Barack Obama will host the first-ever “Neighborhood Inaugural Ball” during this year’s inaugural celebration.  The ball will be the premier event of inauguration evening on Jan. 20 and will take place at the Washington Convention Center.

With tickets available free or at an affordable price, it is the first official inaugural ball of its kind to be held during a presidential inauguration. A portion of tickets for this event will be set aside for District of Columbia residents. The ball will also feature a robust interactive component, including webcasting and text messaging, to link neighborhoods across the country with the new President and this premier event.   The PIC will release more details soon about using technology to allow Americans who are attending neighborhood balls across the country to participate actively in this celebration.

“This is an Inauguration for all Americans,” said President-elect Obama.  “I wanted to make sure that we had an event that would be open to our new neighborhood here in Washington, D.C., and also neighborhoods across the country.  Michelle and I look forward to joining our fellow Americans across the country during this very special event.”

The Presidential Inaugural Committee will release additional details regarding ticket distribution and interactive features soon.

The North Carolina Society is no longer accepting requests for tickets to its ball Jan. 19, the day before the inauguration.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – A host of “North Carolina’s Finest” musicians will help celebrate the state’s new governor-elect and council of state at the Governor’s Inaugural Ball Jan. 8-9, 2009, in Raleigh. The two-day series of events is organized and hosted by the Junior League of Raleigh (JLR).

From Durham resident and jazz great Branford Marsalis to national country artist and Granite Falls native Eric Church, from Raleigh’s bluegrass favorite Chatham County Line to Chapel Hill’s own pop funk band Dillon Fence, the talent appearing at the Inaugural Ball offers something for any musical taste.

The schedule of events featuring musical entertainment at the 2009 Inaugural Ball “North Carolina’s Finest” is as follows: Read the full story

Store owners say this is the week the gown hunt usually begins in earnest now that people are finalizing plans for the presidential inauguration Jan. 20.

RALEIGH, N.C. – The schedule for the 2009 North Carolina Governor’s Inaugural Ball and festivities, organized by the Junior League of Raleigh, is now finalized based on Governor-elect Beverly Perdue’s calendar.

WASHINGTON – Looking for one of the 240,000 tickets to President-elect Obama’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2009? Want your marching band to play in the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue?

Seeking a ticket to one of the many glitzy inaugural balls? Here are some details on tickets, applications for the parade and other events:

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Tickets to the inauguration ceremony are free and distributed through the newly elected and re-elected members of Congress in January 2009. Members of the public interested in attending should contact their senator or congressman to request a ticket. Congressional offices will get the tickets about a week before the swearing-in ceremony in January; in-person pickup is required.

Be wary of any Web site or broker claiming to sell tickets.

“Any Web site or ticket broker claiming that they have inaugural tickets is simply not telling the truth,” Howard Gantman, staff director for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, said in a statement on the panel’s Web site.

“Tickets for the swearing-in … are all provided through members of Congress, and the President-elect and Vice President-elect through the Presidential Inaugural Committee. We urge the public to view any offers of tickets for sale with great skepticism.”

A number of groups automatically gets tickets, such as members of Congress, former lawmakers, Supreme Court justices, Medal of Honor winners and of course, the president-elect, vice president-elect and their families. The remaining tickets are distributed to lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Most people will have to stand through the ceremony at the Capitol, as there are just 30,000 seats.
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Bands seeking to march in the parade need to apply to the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee by 5 p.m. EST on Friday, Nov. 14.

Applicants can apply either by mail or through the Web, with photographs and audio/video recordings optional. The application calls for a descriptive narrative.

The committee prefers online applications. The Presidential Inaugural Committee, the organization representing the president-elect, will make the selection on the parade participants.
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Tickets to at least one inaugural ball are already sold out. The $200-per-person tickets to the Hawaii State Society Inaugural Ball at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel are gone. The new president and the first lady typically make the rounds of the nearly dozen balls in Washington, D.C., and the Hawaiian-born Obama is certain to stop by this one. Other balls are still in the planning stages.
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On the Web:

Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies

Armed Forces Inaugural Committee