Life
The Inauguration Schedule In 2017
Next Friday, January 20, Donald Trump will officially become president. His inauguration team has released a schedule of the 2017 inauguration, consisting of a number of events spread across three days. Thousands of people will descend on Washington next week to celebrate the newly-minted President Trump, in a parade, welcome concert, and a number of balls and galas. However, large numbers are also expected to come to Washington to protest Trump and his administration; as many as 100,000 protesters are projected to attend the Women’s March on Washington alone.
The calendar of events for the inauguration begins on Thursday, January 19, and ends the following Saturday. The Inaugural Committee has given the schedule as follows:
Thursday, Jan. 19
Wreath Laying Ceremony
Arlington National Cemetery, 3:30 — 4 pm ET
Trump and Pence will both attend to honor U.S. veterans.
Welcome Concert
Lincoln Memorial, 4 — 6 pm ET
Trump and Pence are both slated to appear, though it is not yet clear who will be performing at the concert.
Friday, Jan. 20
Swearing-In Ceremony
U.S. Capitol Building, West Front
9:30 am ET — Ceremony begins
11:30 am ET — Opening remarks
12:00 pm ET — Swearing in, administered by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Jr.
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and 16-year-old Jackie Evancho will perform. You can see a map of the seating here.
Inaugural Parade
Starting at the Capitol Building, 3 pm ET
Participants in the parade, which will include the Rockettes, will follow a route from the U.S. Capitol Building to the White House. The Inaugural Committee has estimated that the parade will last between 60 and 90 minutes.
Inaugural Ball
Walter E. Washington Convention Center and National BuildingMuseum, 7 — 11 pm ET
Trump is slated to attend three official inaugural balls, two in the Convention center, and one to honor members of the armed services at the National Building Museum. There will also be a number of unofficial balls and galas on inauguration night, though it is not clear that Trump will be attending them.
Sunday, Jan. 21
National Prayer Service
Washington National Cathedral, 10 am — 11 am ET
This event will be an “interfaith prayer service,” according to the Inaugural Committee.
If you are more interested in protesting Trump’s inauguration than celebrating it, there will also be many protest events held in Washington D.C. and around the country throughout the inauguration calendar. The Women’s March on Washington, in which upwards of 200,000 people are expected to gather in support of women’s rights, will be held on Sunday, January 21. It will start at 10 am ET, meeting at the intersection of Independence Avenue and Third Street, S.W., and go until 5 pm. If you’re not in Washington, you may still be able to attend one of the protest’s sister marches. Right now, there are 269 marches being planned in cities all over the United States and in more than 25 countries. You can find out more about sister marches of the Women’s March on Washington here.
On January 20, the ANSWER Coalition will be holding a protest at the Freedom Plaza at 7 am, to demonstrate against “war, militarism, racism, anti-immigrant scapegoating and neoliberal capitalism’s assault against workers’ living standards and the environment,” according to the group’s website. So far, eleven thousand people have pledged to attend on Facebook.
In L.A., thousands of protesters will gather at 11 am on January 20 for the #UnitedAgainstHate Anti-Trump March; in Seattle, 4,000 people have said they’ll attend Resist Trump: Occupy Inauguration on Inauguration Day; in Chicago, more than 7,000 have pledged to attend a protest at Trump Tower; and in San Francisco, an event called “Bridge Together Golden Gate” will attempt to create a human chain across the Gold Gate Bridge, to “stand together in unity and love as a shining beacon of inclusiveness and democracy” on Inauguration Day.