President Barack Obama made a visit to Austin today. This time I wasn’t fortunate enough to be there, but it made me think about the last time he was in the area.
During his campaign, he came to San Marcos to speak at Sewell Park. That was one of those nights that was so surreal that I woke up the next day and wasn’t really sure it happened. It’s not every day that I go through security with the secret service, share a stage with the future president of the United States, or see tens of thousands of people packed in to a small town park.
The photo at the top of the page is one I shot after his speech, as he greeted people in the crowd. It was never published, but it’s one of my favorites.
Below is a photo I snapped on my way back to the car when I was done shooting. All of these people couldn’t get in to the event, so they waited and watched from the street. Rumors of how many people showed up ranged from 20,000 to 60,000. San Marcos only had about 50,000 residents at the time, so in any case, it was an impressive turnout.
