Under a glorious blue sky, the festive crowd beat drums and waved American flags and placards reading "Change takes Courage," and "Obama Don't Forget Your Promise!"
City officials do not give official crowd estimates, so it is difficult to determine whether turnout reached the more than 200,000 estimated by organizers. However, the demonstration stretched from 7th street to 12th street in a dense carpet of humanity--the movement's largest show of strength since 2006, when a series of mass rallies in favor of the legalization plan erupted in cities across the country.
