A couple of hours before the 1pm ribbon-cutting ceremony, I shot a shaky, hand-held video of the northbound Main St ride from the Courthouse to Sears. Southbound was not yet fully-open, so I shot that the following morning. It's a crappy video, but it's among the first:
And this is the official City video of the ribbon-cutting ceremony:
The stills from the ribbon-cutting ceremony:
1. What gave us the room to hold the ceremony
2. The setup
3. The 'Vette and the Impala that signified both directions
4. The mayor - John LaBrosse (r.) - with 2 board members of the Main Street Business Alliance: Gary Banoun (l.), Jose Valencia (c.)
5. View of the whole scene
6. GOTTA get a shot of the beautiful police choppers
7. As the ceremony begins, MC Tom Freeman - fire chief and interim city manager - addresses the crowd as I slip around behind him to get the Chevys' view.
8. Former chairman of the Main Street Business Alliance, Jerry Lombardo
9. Current chairman of the MSBA, Bryan Hekemian
10. Mayor John LaBrosse
11. The moment (1:27pm) the ribbon got cut (someone referred to it as "the money shot")
12. It's something to clap about.
13,14,15. The mayor sends the cars in 2-way directions.
16. As far as I'm concerned - and being the son of a former Chevrolet dealership executive - this is my favorite shot of the day.
Click to enlarge............ESPECIALLY the last one.