Mementos of Obama speech big sellers
Several vendors selling Barack Obama merchandise at Invesco Field Thursday nearly sold out of T-shirts, buttons, hats and bumper stickers as thousands of spectators rushed to grab a piece of history to take home from the event.
While Obama-embroidered hats were popular at one stand, bumper stickers stamped with pictures of Martin Luther King Jr. and the presidential candidate were popular at another.
Perhaps the top seller at several stands – that didn’t even mention Obama — was a stuffed animal of the Democrat Party’s mascot: the donkey.
“They kind of galloped out of here,” said Cathy Kelly from Denver, who was selling a variety of items in the arena. “Sales are going terrific.”
Working alongside of Kelly was Pat Westbrook from Dallas, who traveled to Denver to be a part of the DNC. Westbrook said the second best-seller at their stand was a bumper sticker with “Dr. King and Barack on it” because it says “I was there” – another testament to the history behind the event. Thursday was the 45th anniversary of King’s “I have a dream speech,” which Obama referenced in his own address.
Seven vendors called Official Obama Stores were scattered around the stadium. Proceeds of up to $2,300 went to the Obama campaign, and the rest went to the Denver 2008 Host Committee.
Brady Manning, 17, from Manchester, N.H., was buying any Democratic button he could find to pin on his white fedora hat.
“On Monday it started off as a regular white fedora,” Manning said guaranteed approval cash advance loans. “By today, it’s a hat with well over 30 buttons.”
After he graduates high school, Manning wants to gets his bachelor’s degree in political science, which is why he traveled to Denver with the New Hampshire delegation.
“I really wanted to come here because this is historic. I think Obama is really the change that this country needs and I think my generation is going to be getting the shaft if I don’t do anything,” Manning said.
Linda Newell, a candidate for the Colorado Senate from Littleton stood at one vendor, buying her two daughters – Kate, 20, and Brittany, 17 – T-shirts.
“I wanted a piece of history,” she said.