From driftglass:
In fact the only real “problem” with the procession was that so many more people showed up than the organizers anticipated. And by more, I mean an order of magnitude more.
Thousands of cars carrying thousands of people. What fine great problem to have!
I was just a volunteer who worked parking before and after and carried donuts in between so I don’t have a comprehensive overview, but you knew it was going to be much bigger than anyone was expecting when parking in the staging lot started off plentiful —
— and then filled up quickly.
And then the backup lot behind the staging area filled up. At this point we had gone through the entire stock of 300 instructional fliers which the organizers had run off.
And then the alleys filled up.
Then I got a call from Blue Gal and the kids letting me know they were fine, but that they were parked in one of the improvised backup, backup lots, which was now 100% full.
Then we had to start lining cars up on the street because there was no other place to put ’em.
And here’s the thing.
Other than volunteers directing traffic, organizers giving directions —
— and local media, the mayor —
— and a couple of alderpersons showing up (because holy shit, this was now a thing) everyone followed the rules and stayed in their cars.