At busy inaugural balls, watch for the flying fur

This year, with 10 official balls and what's shaping up to be more unofficial parties than ever, the coat situation could be even more precarious. Peter Grazzini of Washington-based Perfect Settings bought an extra 250 coat racks and is still short 250 that he hopes to bring in from Chicago along with another 12,000 chairs.

"Our industry has kind of learned from the past that unfortunately you just have to make the decision to buy more. The sad thing is you only need them every four years," he said.

He thinks he'll have enough for his more than 200 events over Inauguration weekend, including a party for Google and events at several museums. But that's mostly because "anybody in their right mind won't bring their coat to an inaugural event."

Going coatless works in good weather, but that's rare in Washington in January. One year, Tate said, her eyelids froze shut.

Tate's strategy is to keep her coat with her — or better yet, skip the ball. She recently spoke to a woman overseas who couldn't wait to come back to the United States for the inauguration. "She said 'I'm excited, I really want to go to the inaugural ball,' " Tate said, "and I said 'Then I guess you've never been to one.' "

Everyone should attend ‘once’
Still, Tate thinks everyone should go to an inaugural ball — once.

"You can dine off that for years," she said. "And we should keep it fairly secret that it's not all that glamorous so that people still want to go."

Video   Woman wins ticket to inauguration Jan. 7: TODAY hosts talk to Cynthia Russell about the essay that won her a trip to Washington, D.C., for the inauguration. Today show

Barry Landau has been to at least a dozen inaugurations and says there's been no dancing since the Reagans, and heavy security means everyone must wear unfashionable credentials around their necks and risk getting locked out if they visit the powder room.

"You're expecting to have a nice drink in a crystal glass. Gone, gone, gone, gone, gone," said Landau, who is working on a history called "The President's Inauguration: 200 Years of An American Pageant."

But while today's balls may not be as glamorous, he wouldn't miss this one.

"You know what? It's still exciting," he says. "It's nice when people get dressed up again and have something to look forward to."

A happy ending
For Martin, the night of the riot turned out better than expected. She and her date, Allen Orenberg, were able to laugh about it. It was bitter cold outside, but Orenberg lent Martin his suit jacket for the long walk.

Today, they are married and living in Rockville, Maryland.

"It was our first date. It was a memorable one," she said. "You never forget your first riot."

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