Jamie and Catie Garvey traveled from Fargo to Washington so they could witness the historic inauguration of Barack Obama.
They had reserved tickets for the purple section, an area near the reflecting pool, that would give them their perch to watch Obama take the oath of office and deliver his inaugural address.
There was just one problem this morning: The line didn't move past the security checkpoint, even as the band was about to start playing.
Clearly, something was wrong. Word circulated through the crowd that there was a problem with the metal detectors.
"There's a large group of us that are stuck in Conrad's office," Jamie Garvey said, referring to Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., where frustrated "purple people" decided to watch the ceremonies on television.
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"Everyone's kind of frustrated," he said. "We're watching it on TV just like everyone else."
The Garveys decided to find a place to watch the inauguration on television when they concluded the section simply wouldn't open, for whatever reason, and others came to the same conclusion.
As the speeches were about to begin, others with NDSU or Vikings sweatshirts filed dejectedly into the Hart Senate Office Building.
"We'll make the best of it," Jamie Garvey, a Fargo firefighter, said. "We're going to hunker down and watch it here."
Catie Garvey said it was still a thrill to be part of the Washington scene on inauguration day.
"I feel it's just been fun to be here," she said. "There's a lot of energy and excitement."
The Garveys are among about 500 North Dakotans who have tickets for the inauguration. Almost 200 from northwest Minnesota's 7th District have tickets for the event, expected to draw a crowd of 1 million or more.
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Patrick Springer at (701) 241-5522
