Delegates find gracious hosts in the North End
They are alternately wary and welcoming of each other; one moment annoyed, the next embracing.
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But as 15,000 delegates learn their way around the nooks and crannies of the oldest city most of them have ever visited, the few residents brave enough to stay home are getting a kick out of playing the role of gracious hosts – for the most part.
Boston’s traditionally Italian North End neighborhood, adjacent to the FleetCenter, is the place where much of the mingling has occurred: Some good, some not so good.
“It’s cool,” said Laine Marus, 30, an account executive with GMAC who lives in the North End. “I don’t think there’s a lot of times when you live in a city where an enormous political event happens and you get to see it – the whole perspective, inside and out, knowing the city, and being a part of it.”
But in the next breath she admitted, “I spent the whole day today giving directions to people who didn’t know where they were going.”
Yet even that tiresome task was okay. She directed delegates from Virginia, Washington, DC, and Florida to Faneuil Hall and North End restaurants. Directions to Paul Revere’s house were easy, given that she and the delegates who were looking for it were standing right beside it at the time.
That sort of hospitality has bowled over a group of delegates from South Dakota whose stereotype of Yankee reserve has been obliterated by the small army of volunteers who materialize at every turn.
“The people are tremendous,” gushed Jim Burg, public utilities commissioner in the state’s capital, Pierre (which South Dakotans pronounce “pear”. And they make fun of the way we talk?) “I’ve never seen so many volunteers. Every time you turn around somebody’s asking you if they can help. They’re cordial. If you look like you’re confused, they ask you if they can help.”
Sharon Stroschein of Aberdeen, a Democratic National Committeewoman, agreed. “They greeted us at the airport, they’re on the train platforms, in the hotel, at the convention – they’re everywhere to help us out,” she said. “It’s amazing.”
The South Dakotans are taking full advantage of their time here. They had been in town just 48 hours and had already slurped down clam chowder at Mr. Dooley’s, partied at the Charlestown Navy Yard with the rest of their delegation, toured Old Ironsides, and lustily booed the Yankees at Fenway Park Sunday night.
Monday night, after being revved up by the Clintons and Al Gore inside the convention hall (“Bill Clinton was awesome, Hillary Clinton was great, and Al Gore gave a wonderful speech” – first-year delegate Deb Knecht of Houghton, SD, population 20), the South Dakotan delegates were grazing through the North End, looking for a restaurant still serving food after midnight. Continued...
