ROANOKE, Va.—
Excitement is building as our region prepares for a Presidential visit on Friday.Tickets for the Roanoke event were handed out Friday.
No matter your political affiliation, this is a historic event.
It's been decades since a sitting president has made a visit here, and Roanokers are getting ready for the big day.
Church Avenue will be the hub of acitivity Friday.
President Barack Obama will speak at the Historic Fire Station No. 1 in downtown Roanoke.
"I was actually surprised when my husband told me he was coming. I was like, really? Roanoke? Not Richmond, not northern Virginia even," said Amanda Fortuna, who is hoping to attend Obama's rally. "So I think it's fantastic that he's accessing Southwest Virginia and giving us some attention."
Another rally hopeful, Sean Deyerle, said: "Our President is coming here to grace us with what he has to say and cares enough about our votes and takes the time out of his busy schedule to care about the people in Southwest Virginia."
Some hope to have questions about the future answered.
"A lot of people historically thought of as middle class Americans, unfortunately, they are in another position so it would just be nice to see what the strategy will be moving forward to have people employed and opportunities that would present themselves for people," Tya Board said.
Employees of Thelma's Chicken and Waffles are just down the street from the center of it all.
"It's a thrill to have the President coming to Roanoke. Even bigger thrill to having him coming so close to us here going to the old fire station," Mike Clark, Director of Operations of Thelma's Chicken said.
They're anticipating a huge crowd, and Thelma's will be ready to feed a lot of them.
Secret Service agents are already visiting.
"They're primarily concerned about the facilities themselves, access rooftops, that type of thing," Clark said.
As with many, the big hope is to meet the president, face to face.
"We know the President enjoys a good burger, we have one here that we'd like for him to try. And we've actually let that be known," Clark said.
The folks at Thelma's are hoping the president has time to swing by.
They've discussed it with some of Obama's people, but they haven't been promised anything.
