The parking lot was full, the lines were long, but people crammed into the Meijer store on Maysville Road to meet a Northern hero other than Santa.
More than 1,000 people flocked to the store Thursday to get a fleeting meeting with former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The former Alaska governor was in town from noon to 3 p.m. as part of her book tour, signing hundreds of copies of her new memoir, “Going Rogue.”
Kristen Hendershot, 29, of Cincinnati, arrived at the store 17 hours before Palin was to begin giving autographs, but she wanted to make sure she had a good place in line. She said she couldn’t make it to one of Palin’s stops in her home state, so she made the effort to drive to the Summit City.
“I think she has a lot of common-sense solutions to the problems our nation is facing,” she said.
Hendershot, like most of the crowd, wants Palin to run for president in 2012, although Palin has been fairly mum on her future political aspirations.
The visit to Meijer was Palin’s second trip to Fort Wayne in less than 13 months. She attended a rally at Memorial Coliseum last fall during her campaign with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
Julie and Doug Devine came to Fort Wayne from Jackson, Mich., after they were denied entry to Palin’s Grand Rapids book signing Wednesday when they arrived too late. So the couple packed their three kids in the car and traveled to Fort Wayne, where they waited 14 1/2 hours in the store for less than a minute with Palin. But the effort was worth it to see someone they admired in politics.
“I’d do it again,” Julie Devine said.
The crowd slowly began forming Wednesday evening and extended outdoors early Thursday. Meijer staff said wristbands were handed out at 10 a.m., and the allotment of 1,000 was gone in 30 minutes. The event drew national media attention from “Good Morning America” and “Entertainment Tonight.”
Despite the large crowds and obvious passion for Palin, the event was relatively calm and quiet. Meijer staff provided cookies and beverages to the delight of many in the audience. The crowd broke briefly into chants of “Sarah, Sarah, Sarah” when Palin arrived but became quiet again when she went behind an enclosed area to privately sign the books.
She granted brief media access for photographers and videographers, but she took no questions from reporters.
Barricades were set around the signing area, with no line of sight into it from any open angle. Armed police protection was prevalent throughout the store, although the largest problem was keeping aisles clear of people for fire-safety reasons.
Even with the large crowd and hype, not all attendees felt the need to get there a half-day early. Susan Till, a local Realtor, showed up at Meijer with her friend Chris Klopfenstein at 1:50 p.m.
She said they bought their books at the store and jumped in line, although they had no idea whether they would get their books signed. She said she was just glad to show her support for Palin and hoped she would help change the country whether or not she runs for office again.
Till didn’t make it through the line to get an autograph, but she was rewarded with a hand-signed book plate to put in Palin’s memoir. For showing up last, she said it was amazing to get anything.
“We were thrilled,” she said.
