Fifteen years ago, Barack Obama and his family took the stage in Grant Park before 250,000 joyous people who were waving American flags and snapping photographs.
The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum’s re-creation of that historic moment when Obama was elected the nation’s first Black president will be unveiled Friday to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Nov. 4, 2008, presidential election.
“The election of the nation’s first African American president was a momentous occasion, and the celebration on election night was very memorable – both for the nearly quarter of a million people who witnessed it in person and the millions who watched from across the world,” said Phil Sklar, co-founder and CEO of the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum.
Dressed in the same outfits they wore on the 2008election night — Obama in a dark suit jacket with a white shirt and red tie, and his wife, Michelle, in a red and black dress – the couple stand on a blue base waving with American flags in the background in the museum’s rendition of the scene.
Sklar, who attended Obama’s election night speech in Grant Park with his mother and sister, said the museum turned to “a lot of pictures” from that night to accurately depict the details.
“Barack Obama’s election was a historic event in the nation’s history. He and Michelle broke a lot of barriers to become the first African American to be elected president,” Sklar said. “I think this bobblehead also symbolizes his campaign of ‘Hope’ and ‘Yes, we can’ and will be something that inspires and encourages people to overcome obstacles.”
The museum created 2,008 bobbleheads for sale, a number picked to commemorate the year in which Obama was first elected.
The bobbleheads are $40 each, with a flat-rate $8 shipping fee, and are ready to be shipped.
They will also be on display at the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum in Milwaukee, which has more than 10,000 bobbleheads.
The museum has bobbleheads of all 46 U.S. presidents. Obama had the most bobbleheads at the museum of any president until now — that feat belongs to former President Donald Trump, Sklar said.
The bobblehead of both Obama and former first lady Michelle, however, is the first of its kind at the museum, he added.
