4 days of inaugural events feature day of service

[BR_Parkway]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081210/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_inauguration

CHICAGO – President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration will be a four-day affair, replete with the traditional balls but also featuring service projects to honor Martin Luther King's holiday, aides said Wednesday.

The events are expected to draw millions of visitors to Washington to witness the swearing-in of the country's first black president. The preliminary schedule also includes a national prayer service the day after Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden take office on Jan. 20.

"At this moment of great challenge and great change, renewing the promise of America begins with renewing the idea that in America, we rise or fall as one nation and one people," Obama said in a statement released by the Presidential Inaugural Committee. "That sense of unity and shared purpose is what this inauguration will reflect."

The event's theme — "Renewing America's Promise" — is the same one used for the Democratic National Convention in Denver and for the party's national platform. It's a nod to the optimism that Obama tapped into during a marathon campaign.