Thousands gathered to watch the inaugural parade on Thursday, waiting on long security checkpoint lines to get in the parade area.
At public checkpoints, uniformed soldiers made parade-goers empty any food at the entrance gate, leaving a three-foot pile of abandoned coffee, fruit, and other snacks. Once inside, there were hundreds of "scout guides" in yellow jackets to answer questions and point people in the right direction.
"Usually people are trying to find out how to see the president speak, but they've missed that," said Mark Howe. He and his daughter came from Maryland to help at the parade, after the National Capitol Girl Scouts sent a request for help to Washington area troops.
"I'm really lucky," said Howe's daughter Emily, a Girl Scout. "It's my first year doing this, but my last year as a Girl Scout. I won't get to do this again."
Tensions were high at the parade, as Bush supporters and detractors clashed. At 13th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, protesters tried to knock down a barricade and riot police were called. Bush supporters in an office building at 13th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue threw food at protesters, causing a small riot. Secret Service would not let anyone exit the area near the White House for 45 minutes.
In the bleacher seats, which were reserved for Bush supporters, most people were excited to see the president and were trying to ignore the loud protesters behind them. Kim and Dave Serroka traveled from Ohio to the inauguration because their daughter got them bleacher tickets. They said they were just wanted to see their daughter and the parade, but were upset because protesters taunted them and shouted obscenities as they got off the Metro.
"You have the right to say what you want," Dave Serroka said. "But when you start getting in the way of others' rights, that's wrong."
Sarah Goumaa, a Sudanese native studying at Randolph-Macon University, had a
different perspective. She was holding a sign asking the president to interfere in the genocide in Darfur when a man from Kosovo dressed in an American flag shirt and pants started cursing at her, calling her a "communist."
"Does President Bush make you get up and make him scrambled eggs in the morning?" the man shouted. "No, because you are free!"
After the man had been shouting for several minutes, an elderly woman stepped between the man and Goumaa, and he walked away. Goumaa said she was not angry.
"He's accusing us of being against the U.S., but he should make a distinction between being against a country and being against its leader," she said.
Many Washington residents came to the parade to cheer on Ballou High School's marching band, the Ballou Marching Knights.
Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton wrote to the president in December, asking him to invite the band to perform in the parade. Two fatal shootings at the school last year had overshadowed the band winning a national award, and Norton asked the president to encourage their hard work by selecting them for the parade.
Erica Melton was a "steperette" in the Marching Knights in 1991. As her alma mater marched by she danced and cheered along with the band.
"They were always a good band, and never got the recognition they deserved because of the area," Melton said.
Another Washington native, Scott Marchand, came to the parade to raise awareness of the districts fight for voting representation in Congress.
"If you want to find tyranny, it's right here in the United States," said Marchand.
Marchand has lived in the District for more than a decade, and says most people don't know D.C. has no voting representation in Congress. He said he didn't care who was being inaugurated, that he would protest at every inauguration "until the system changed"
