CHICAGO (AP) — In a delightful surprise, former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama greeted the first 100 visitors at the newly unveiled Obama Presidential Center on Friday.
Accompanied by LeVar Burton, the beloved former host of “Reading Rainbow,” the Obamas captivated 25 school children with a reading of “Where the Wild Things Are” at the Chicago Public Library branch housed within the center. A playful moment arose when Michelle Obama quipped, “Although there were no kings,” after Barack read Maurice Sendak’s line about being “king of all the wild things,” earning applause from the audience.
Guests were thrilled to shake hands with the Obamas in front of a vibrant 38-foot-tall artwork, a sprawling map of Chicago inspired by Carl Sandburg’s 1914 poem that celebrates the city as “stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders.”
As the initial group of visitors concluded their tour, the Obamas made a quiet exit, allowing the museum to welcome additional guests for its opening day.
The center’s unveiling coincided with Juneteenth and followed a star-studded dedication ceremony. The Obamas delivered inspiring speeches to a crowd that included three former presidents with their first ladies, numerous politicians, and a glittering array of celebrities, musicians, and sports figures. Thousands more tuned in via livestream from a nearby park.
A weekend of events is planned for the sprawling campus on Chicago’s South Side near where the Obamas lived and began his political career. It is adjacent to the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in the lakefront park, and not far from the University of Chicago.
Tickets for the general public are sold out through the end of November. But those lucky enough to score them for the first day got the unexpected thrill of meeting the Obamas themselves.
The campus includes a towering museum that covers the political and personal realms of the nation’s first Black president and first lady, while public spaces include a branch of the Chicago Public Library, a playground and athletic center, basketball courts and a picnic area with grills.
The tower’s design is meant to depict four hands coming together in solidarity. Wrapped around one side are 5-foot tall concrete capital letters, an excerpt of Obama’s 2015 speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery march. It begins, “You are America.”