Each Independence Day, Elizabeth Carey wakes up at five a.m. and prays for sunshine. And not because she's planning a little afternoon barbecue.
Carey plans something much grander entirely. As public affairs officer at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's mountaintop home in Charlottesville, VA, Carey welcomes 75 or so newly minted Americans every July fourth at seven a.m. sharp, to begin preparing and rehearsing for the swearing-in ceremony for new citizens. That's not to mention the other guestsgovernment officials, VIPs (Law Order star Sam Waterston spoke this year), and the crowd of more than 2,200 who arrive to watch the 10 a.m. ceremony. Of the more than 60 events Carey plans annually, this is by far her largest, and it's been held at Monticello since 1963 (though no one there can recall how it started).
For patriotic symbolism, it's hard to get a better site than Jefferson's housethe Founding Father not only wrote the Declaration of Independence, but he designed Monticello, where he died on the 50th anniversary of America's independence. But the beautiful mansion has it drawbacks, the biggest being "severe weather on the mountaintop," Carey says. Since all her events are held outdoors, weather is always her biggest challenge: "Back in June, I was doing a black-tie dinner for 215 donors in tents on the lawn, and we had to evacuate everyone when an electrical storm suddenly came up!"
Upright Citizens' Brigade Carey has no role in choosing who takes the citizenship oath that day. They're area residents who are selected by the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), can't apply for the honor, and don't know they're being sworn in at Monticello until USCIS informs them. "We don't get the citizen list until three weeks beforehand, and it's by no means complete," says Carey. "I'm on the phone every day with local government officials, getting name changes, cancellations, and updates, so that we can print our programs."
Carey starts preparations several months ahead, coordinating key activities with community organizations, like the Daughters of the American Revolution (who made breakfast for the new Americans), voter-registration groups to register the new citizens, a high-school ROTC unit to post the colors, and a municipal band to play patriotic music. She also arranges a picnic the night before for VIPswho included Waterston, his wife, and Monticello's presidentas well as their travel and hotel arrangements.
Who'll Stop the Rain? Though Carey keeps an auditorium reserved in case of inclement weather, she hasn't moved the ceremony indoors in the four years she's planned it. "My first July fourth it poured rain," she recalls. "But Monticello's president decided not to move it, and at 10 a.m. the sun came out like clockwork." This year the weather was "perfect the whole timethe best we've ever had," she says. "It was my payback for that electrical storm back in June!"
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Total staff: about 100
New citizens hailed from: 36 countries
Length of ceremony: one hour
Past speakers: Christo and Jeanne-Claude; I.M. Pei
VIPs stay at: Keswick Hall (48 guest rooms)
Originally published August 01, 2007For more ideas, tips, and tools for better meetings and events,
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