Article Contributed on: 8/25/2008 6:24:00 PM
2:37 p.m. Aug 25 -- After hopping off the light rail downtown at 16th and California, I ran into fellow blogger
Karin Malchow (read her DNC coverage
here). We chatted for a bit and after she found her shuttle to the Pepsi Center, I went to check out some of the DNC merchandise.
T-shirt and button vendors have popped up everywhere -- and I do mean everywhere. Where the crowds are, the people selling stuff are bound to follow, and
Barack Obama's moniker can be found on shirts, pins, hats, necklaces and even dolls.
Darrell White, from Colorado Springs, was selling his "Yes, we can!" T-shirts near 15th and California for $10, which he said was about the going rate.
"I love Obama," he said. "He's ready to make a change!"
From one major event to the next,
Charles Golphin, of the Virgin Islands, said he came to Denver directly from the Olympics in Beijing. He is the head coach for the Virgin Islands Track and Field Federation, and came to sell merchandise during the DNC.
Still thinking like a coach, Golphin was sure to remind passersby that he had power bars "to fuel up" for sale alongside his T-shirts, pins and hats.
A few yards down,
Amirah Boyo, of Dallas, twirled in her red apron covered with Obama buttons. The buttons, which she designs and makes herself, had slogans such as "Hot women vote for Obama," and "All aboard, next stop: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave."
"Business is slow," Boyo said with a sigh. "It's not popping yet."
On the 16th Street Mall, however, business was booming for vendor
Don Elfant, of Austin. He said he was almost sold out of his button supply. "I hope to get more tomorrow," he said.
Elfant said he has been selling buttons at political conventions since 1980. His father, now deceased, started collecting and selling buttons in the 1960s, Elfant said.
"I'm just keeping the family tradition," he said.