At 2:30 pm, the parade starts at Pennsylvania Ave., NW. Most of the route is open to the public for standing room access. Viewing spots are available on a first come, first serve basis. Gates open at 7:00 am.
Three of the ten official inaugural balls will be televised:
- Tonight, the Kids' Inaugural Ball, broadcast on The Disney Channel, tonight at 8pm. Who's playing? Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers. You can watch afterwards at 9:30 pm online here.
Tomorrow Night:
- Neighborhood Inaugural Ball
Location: Washington Convention Center, Hall D
Doors open: 5:00 PM, Event begins: 7:00 PM
Event Concludes: approximately 10:30 PM
Broadcast at 8pm on ABC. Musical performances by Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Faith Hill, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Shakira, Stevie Wonder and Nick Cannon (as DJ).
- Youth Inaugural Ball
Location: Washington Hilton
Doors open: 7:00 PM, Event begins: 9:00 PM
Event concludes: approximately 2:30 AM
Young Americans age 18 - 35
Broadcast on MTV
The other offical balls:
- Commander-in-Chief's Ball
Location: National Building Museum
Event begins: 7:00 PM
- Obama Home States Inaugural Ball
Location: Washington Convention Center, Hall E
Event begins: 7:00 PM
- Illinois and Hawaii invited guests
Biden Home States Inaugural Ball
Location: Washington Convention Center, Ballroom
Event begins at 8:00 PM
For Delaware and Pennsylvania invited guests
- Eastern Inaugural Ball
Location: Union Station
Event begins: 10:00 PM
For Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, Puerto Rico, and US Virgin Islands invited guests
- Mid-Atlantic Inaugural Ball
Location: Washington Convention Center, Hall A
Event begins: 8:00 PM
For Maryland, Virginia, District of Columbia, New York, New Jersey, and West Virginia invited guests
- Midwest Inaugural Ball
Location: Washington Convention Center, Hall C
Event begins: 8:00 PM
For Kansas, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Missouri invited guests
- Southern Inaugural Ball
Location: DC Armory
Event begins: 10:00 PM
For Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas invited guests
- Western Inaugural Ball
Location: Washington Convention Center, Hall B
Event begins: 8:00 PM
For Alaska, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Oklahoma, Guam/AS invited guests
There are three dinners tonight:
- National Building Museum
Honoree: General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.)
Event begins: 5:00 PM
This event is invitation only, and it will be pooled press.
- Hilton Washington
Honoree: Senator John McCain
Event begins: 5:00 PM
This event is invitation only, and it will be pooled press.
- Union Station
Honoree: Vice President-elect Joe Biden
Event begins: 6:30 PM
This event is invitation only, and it will be pooled press.
The theme of the inauguration is "A New Birth of Freedom", commemorating the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. It was chosen by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies in consultation with the Senate Historian's Office.
If you are interested in security or how to get around or prohibited items, here's the Secret Service webpage for the event. There's more on the District of Columbia's website. You can even sign up for DC tweets and updates. Right now, they are preparing for snow.
For news and updates, Huffington Post has an excellent inauguration page .
The Huffpo pre-inauguration ball at the Newseum is tonight and will be interactive. Sheryl Crow and will.i.am will be performing.
People at the party will be able to share the experience with people across the country in a number of ways: attendees will be able to liveblog their experiences at a liveblog station. This liveblog will be featured prominently on HuffPost's home page - with readers able to comment and ask questions of our livebloggers in real time. Live video of the event will also be featured on HuffPost - as will any pictures party guests take and fwd to a special flickr account. And attendees will be encouraged to Twitter about their party experiences, and update their Facebook pages accordingly.
I hope Twitter can handle the traffic. Expect no detail to be too small or trite for coverage. Case in point: Michelle Obama's aesthetician reshaped her eyebrows to eliminate some of the high arch after many complained she looked too harsh.
Ridiculous story of the day so far: Krispy Kreme will give everyone a free donut at their stores tomorrow to celebrate the inauguration and the anti-choice American Life League thinks its a sinister attempt to support abortion because they are letting the customers pick the kind of donut in a salute to freedom.
Do we need change in this country or what?