The Obama Presidential Center officially opened its doors Friday, with former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama making a surprise appearance to greet the first 100 visitors.
The former first couple, accompanied by "Reading Rainbow" host LeVar Burton, also read Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" to 25 children at the Chicago Public Library branch located within the center. During the reading, Michelle Obama playfully interjected that "there were no kings," drawing applause from the audience.
Visitors had the opportunity to shake hands with the Obamas in front of a 38-foot-tall painting depicting a map of Chicago, inspired by Carl Sandburg's poem "Chicago."
The center's opening on Juneteenth followed a dedication ceremony attended by three former presidents, their spouses, and numerous politicians, celebrities, musicians, and athletes. Thousands more watched a livestream of the event from a nearby park.
A series of weekend events are scheduled for the sprawling campus on Chicago's South Side. The center is situated in a lakefront park adjacent to the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry and near the University of Chicago, in an area where the Obamas lived and where Barack Obama began his political career.
Tickets for the general public are reportedly sold out through November, making the surprise encounter with the former president and first lady a unique experience for the inaugural visitors.
The campus features a museum detailing the political and personal lives of the nation's first Black president and first lady. Public amenities include a branch of the Chicago Public Library, a playground, an athletic center with basketball courts, and a picnic area.
The design of the center's museum tower is intended to symbolize four hands coming together in solidarity. A portion of the exterior is adorned with 5-foot-tall concrete capital letters that are an excerpt from Obama's 2015 speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery marches, beginning with the words "You are America."