Ollie Williams traveled with about 40 friends, relatives and associates to attend opening day at the Obama Presidential Center.
By bus.
All the way from Louisiana.
The group chartered the bus for the 22-hour trip to Chicago, where they joined thousands of people descending on the center’s campus Friday morning.
There, they found plenty of on-site activities, including art workshops, live performances, sports clinics and more.
“I just wanted to be among the people,” said Williams, who’s from Monroe, La. “With all that’s going on today … we are so glad and so proud to see this, see us unite together to do something beautiful, something positive in life.”
Ethel Williams, another group member and a relative of Ollie’s, said she came Friday in part because Barack Obama is more than the former president — he’s her former boss. She’s an Army veteran.
Although the group — sporting matching pink t-shirts — didn’t score tickets to enter the museum exhibits this weekend, they wanted to ensure they were there for the historic Juneteenth opening.
“It’s just a blessing to be here on the ground,” said Ethel Williams, who’s from Starlington, La. “This is history.”
But there’s plenty to do at the center without a ticket, including John Lewis Plaza, a playground, a Chicago Public Library branch — even the Sky Room observation level of the museum tower.
Families waited hours outside Home Court, the NBA-regulation basketball court that’s also on the campus. Inside, Chicago sports teams hosted a sports clinic. Children could work on dribbling, passing and shooting or hit a hockey puck.
The idea was “to give them lessons that they can take with them off the court to just make sure that they’re being the best people they can be,” said Jonathan Starks, a coach for the Chicago Bulls’ Youth Hoops program.
Starks participated in the program when he was a kid.
“It’s like full-circle moment,” he said. “You get to just impact so many of the youth of the Chicagoland area, whether it’s the suburbs or the city, in a positive way.”
In the plaza, Ayodele Drum and Dance attracted dozens of onlookers. “Ayodele,” a Yoruba word, means “joy in the home.”
The all-women group’s goal is to preserve the art of West African dance. The collective offers weekly drop-in classes at the Sherman Park Field House, 1301 W. 52nd St., for $10.
Other groups would offer short performances in the center’s plaza through the weekend.
Obama Presidential Center employees are hosting short, informational talks about the Eleanor Roosevelt Fruit and Vegetable Garden all weekend, too. The organic garden, planted on the roof of the library, will serve as an educational tool for the community, according to center staff.
Eventually, the garden will house programming with nonprofits like After School Matters and the Urban Growers Collective to teach local kids about caring for plants and harvesting food. Michelle Obama previously partnered with the growers collective for her “Let’s Move!” campaign promoting gardening and healthy eating.
All food from the garden will be donated to local food pantries.
There are other environmental nods at the center — besides solar panels in several locations, all the water on campus is drained into cisterns, filtered, recycled, and reused in all non-potable water systems, including the bathrooms.
And inside the lower level of the Forum building, community artist William Estrada was holding a tote-bag-making workshop, which will continue all weekend.
He was screen-printing an exclusive design for the center’s opening weekend onto 3,000 canvas totes. The design features monarch butterflies, chickadees, bees and flowers.
“Hope is a collective effort,” Estrada said. “[We] build things together in ways that we get to celebrate each other’s joy, we get to celebrate each other’s accomplishments, and we take care of one another.”
Estrada, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, runs studios in Pilsen and Cicero.
Niece and aunt duo Zan Reed and Luella Lipsey used acrylic markers to personalize their bags. Both grew up in the area and were “overwhelmed” with emotion about the center operning.
“It’s a great gift to the community, you know,” Reed said. “He always talks about inclusion, collaboration, community, so this is a place where people can gather. It is a symbol of what America can be.”
