Outside the Governor's Hall of the Statehouse Convention Center on Tuesday night it could have been any old day in Arkansas, but not inside, not by a long shot.
Dave and Sarah Wengel, inaugural committee co-chairmen, and Shayla Copas, inaugural ball decorations committee chairman, surpassed everyone's expectations for the convention hall floor.
"A New Day in Arkansas" was the theme of the night, broadcast on the closed-circuit video and printed on the dinner menu card and engraved on keepsake silver chargers. Inside, the stage lights washed the hall in patriotic red, white and blue. Tables were centered by red tulips and roses and white hydrangeas.
"I think people are realizing the historic ... it's starting to set in, the historic election that we just had," said Dave Wengel. "I believe this is about 50 percent larger than Gov. Beebe's first inaugural ball."
Of the 1,900 ballgoers -- the committee's count -- some were Democrats.
"I think it says a lot about Asa and Susan, how many Democrats are here, in light of the results of just a few weeks ago," Wengel said.
"I think they realize that there's no other option. I mean, there's not something else you can do. It was such a sweeping Republican wave," said Sarah Wengel, the Hutchinsons' daughter.
"I think they also see your dad as pragmatic," Dave Wengel said. "And he talked about that today in his remarks, that, even though this was a Republican sweep, he's looking to make pragmatic decisions. I think a lot of the long-term Democrats respect him. Like Dean [Skip] Rutherford. He said Asa had always accepted his past defeats gracefully, and that engendered a lot of good will with many of the long-term Democrats."
From the dais, Sarah Wengel caught her mother's eye just before 8 o'clock as the new first lady and governor made their way along the red carpet to their seats -- not right up front, but set back a bit, like populists -- and both remarked afterward about the moment. The mother called it "better than our wedding day," the daughter, "priceless."
"We didn't know this is where we were going to go," the first lady said. "We're more reactionary. We take each day as a moment and see what needs to be done."
-- Photos and story by
Bobby Ampezzan
High Profile on 01/18/2015