A thin line of spectators have lined up along Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch in Hartford as the parade takes off. The route is starting to fill in with people braving the freezing cold, though the brief snow squall has stopped.
As they were getting ready to march in the parade, members of the West Hill High School Marching Band said they were excited that Governor Dan Malloy attended their high school. But they were also excited about something else: missing school.
Trumpet player Blair Cassell, a West Hill junior, said his friends were more jealous that he was able to miss classes today than that he was marching in the inaugural parade.
This is the second time West Hill is marching in Hartford for an inauguration. The band participated in the parade when Lt. Governor Michael Fedele, also of Stamford, was sworn in along with Gov. M. Jodi Rell in January, 2007.