The January Holiday

As I was looking through a bookstore the other day, trying to spend a holiday gift card, I noticed a crop of Valentines Day paraphernalia by the check-out register. Somehow, that just didn’t feel right. At first, I thought I was suffering from withdrawl. The barage of back-to-back holidays that take us from Halloween to New Year with barely a weekend that doesn’t require celebrating was puttering to an end. But it wasn’t that. The reason for my unease hit me as I was standing in front of a poster for the Bed-Stuy YMCA’s Inauguration Brunch: this year, we have a mid-January holiday to celebrate, and folks, it just isn’t right skip to the hearts and roses without putting on a little fan-fare for January 20th.

And, if ushering in a historic presidency wasn’t enough, this nabe has one more reason to toast on the twentieth. Bed-Stuy’s own youth marching band, The Brooklyn Steppers, were selected from a pool of over 14,000 applicants to perform in the 2009 Presidential Inauguration Parade in Washington, DC.

The YMCA’s Inauguration Brunch is scheduled for 10 am, Tuesday, January 20th in the community area of the YMCA. Does anyone know of other local celebrations in the works? 

If you are planning to watch the coverage at home, BET and TV One are planning unprecedented coverage. TV One will run uninterrupted coverage of the inauguration from 6 a.m. EST on Jan. 20 to 3 a.m. EST on Jan. 21st. Try a heart-warming Hot Toddy from Peaches Market [rum and spices muddled together with aptly named Unitea] or bring in some sparkling wine from Olivino Wines for the occasion. Perhaps Breadstuy will revive the red-and-blue ”Obama” icing patterns that we saw on the red velvet and carrot cakes right before the election.  

January might traditionally be the time to get off the holiday-wagon, but this year, not so. Send in your ideas and events for Inauguration Day, 2009!