KYW Newsradio Team coverage
Barack Obama's path to the White House runs right through Philadelphia, and people in the city are marking the occasion in their own, special ways.
KYW's Michelle Durham reports that Philadelphia area bars, restaurants and hotels are putting together specialty food and drink menus to celebrate the upcoming inauguration of president-elect Barack Obama.
The theme at McGillin’s Olde Ale House on Drury Street in Center City will definitely be Hawaiian! Christopher Mullins parents have owned the bar for years. He describes the drink menu starting with the Obama Mama:
"We called my Mom an Obama Mama because she is a huge fan of Obama and it's a take-off of the Bahama Mama, so it uses light and dark rums, some coconut liquor, and lots of fruit juices to sweeten it up."
Beer lovers can enjoy Victory's Hop Devil, Stouts Pale Ale, and Presidente Beer. For food, they offer coconut macadamia shrimp, peachy pork barbecue.
Around the corner at the Ritz Carlton, Martin Mariano, director of food and beverage says red, white, and blue drinks named for Obama and senator Joe Biden will be served at hotel restaurant 10 Arts:
"Our pastry chef Monica Glass is making some shortbread cookies that come from a recipe that Michelle Obama submitted to Family Circle Magazine."
Both men say they expect the celebration to be sweet!
KYW's Karin Phillips reports that a local historian says Barack Obama is following the footsteps of a beloved president in his plans to stop in Philadelphia before the inauguration.
Philadelphia's Civil War Museum has a fragment of the American flag Abraham Lincoln raised on Independence Mall on February 22, 1861 during his pre-inaugural journey from Springfield, Illinois to Washington DC.
Curator Andrew Coldren says Lincoln wanted to speak to as many Americans as possible to reassure them about the secession crisis going on in the country, not too unlike the crises facing Americans now.
"Obama is very consciously reaching into the past to some of Lincoln's legacy as a strong leader and as a guide in a very, very uncertain time as a way to get the American people to feel a sense of comfort and strength and reassurance."
Inauguration 2009
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