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Blog Entry 5 of 12 DNC Street Beat
Hello there, I'm Erin Feese, a community journalist for YourHub.com. I'm pounding the pavement during the Democratic National Convention Aug. 25 through 28 to offer a woman-on-the-street view of what is going down downtown.

Blog Url: http://denver.yourhub.com/~erinDNC

Obama-rama of merchandise

Contributed by: Erin Feese   on 8/25/2008

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.





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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Erin Feese

Denver , CO

Erin Feese has posted 12 blog entries and 0 comments since joining on 6/7/2006. Erin Feese 's average blog rating is 5.
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