Obama Inauguration Schedule: Aides Outline 4-Day Event

CHICAGO — President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration will be a four-day affair, replete with the traditional balls but also featuring service projects to honor Martin Luther King's holiday, aides said Wednesday.

The events are expected to draw millions of visitors to Washington to witness the swearing-in of the country's first black president. The preliminary schedule also includes a national prayer service the day after Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden take office on Jan. 20.

"At this moment of great challenge and great change, renewing the promise of America begins with renewing the idea that in America, we rise or fall as one nation and one people," Obama said in a statement released by the Presidential Inaugural Committee. "That sense of unity and shared purpose is what this inauguration will reflect."

The event's theme _ "Renewing America's Promise" _ is the same one used for the Democratic National Convention in Denver and for the party's national platform. It's a nod to the optimism that Obama tapped into during a marathon campaign.

The schedule plans an event on Sunday, Jan. 18, to welcome visitors to the nation's capital. During George W. Bush's first inaugural celebration in 2001, a welcoming event took place on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and featured popular musicians such as Ricky Martin, who prodded the then-Texas governor to join him for a dance.

The schedule plans for Obama and Biden to perform a service project the next day, the national King holiday. Aides are not detailing what they will do, but said Obama and Biden would urge others across the country to follow their lead to honor the civil rights leader and activist.

Inauguration Day will feature many of the events of past schedules, including the oath of office on the western steps of the Capitol, the parade to the White House and the traditional inaugural balls. Some have speculated that those would be pared back as the country faces an economic crisis, but aides said they would remain.

Not all events will be exclusive affairs for tuxedoed insiders. Obama's campaign wants the inauguration to be inclusive and open to the public, including opening the entire National Mall for the millions anticipated to flood Washington for his swearing-in.

Aides declined to release the slate of balls Wednesday, saying the details had not been completed.