While Washington, D.C., prepares for a host of bureaucrats and corporate bigwigs to roll into town for Thursday's presidential inauguration, local activists are making plans to protest the presidential proceedings.

Anne Miller, director of New Hampshire Peace Action, expects more than 70 people from the state to make the trek down to the nation's capitol to protest the official start of George W. Bush's second term in office.

The group has a 56-passenger bus going to the inauguration, Miller said, adding that she knows of at least another 24 people driving or flying to Washington D.C. on their own.

The response has "really been amazing," Miller said.

The bus will pick up passengers in Concord on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. and will stop in Market Square in Portsmouth at 9 p.m. Portsmouth's own Leftist Marching Band will be on hand to provide send-off music for the protestors.

Once in Washington, demonstrators will have a variety of venues to express their dissent. Much of the protesting will take place near the intersection of 4th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, where the group International ANSWER (which stands for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) has permits for a large-scale demonstration, Miller said.

During the parade, the group Turn Your Back on Bush (TYBoB) wants protestors to turn their backs as the presidential motorcade passes. Sue Mayer, the N.H. coordinator for TYBoB, said her group will join up with other New England TYBoB contingents for the protest. Mayer is a contributor to The Wire.

"The action of turning our backs on Bush is of course symbolic, just as this inauguration's lavish pageantry ... is symbolic of Bush's imperial and imperious presidency," Mayer said.

A march and rally are also being organized by the groups United for Peace and Justice and the D.C. Antiwar Network, Miller said.

Security is expected to be incredibly stringent for the inauguration. At a press conference last week, Homeland Security director Tom Ridge said more than 6,000 civilian and military personnel will be on hand for the event, according to a report in The New York Times on Jan. 12.

"We're expecting to be very restricted," said Jamilla El-Shafei, who is helping coordinate the buses leaving from N.H. "We're wondering who they're afraid of...is it a terrorist attack or is it the protestors?"

Many of the protests will be anti-war demonstrations and not specifically against Bush himself.

"I don't think anybody would go as far as to say it is just anti-Bush," Miller said. "I don't think anybody feels that personally about it. The most important policy we're trying to highlight is an anti-war message."

The cost of the inaugural festivities is also drawing fire. According to reports, the inauguration alone will cost upwards of $40 million. That number doesn't include security costs, which are expected to top $17 million. Though private donors are picking up costs for much of the celebration, some have objected to the inauguration's high price tag in a time of war and natural disaster.

"It's heartbreaking, and everybody should be outraged at this," Miller said. "This $40 million is more than (the Bush administration's) first bid for tsunami relief. I think it's telling of what this administration is about. They're catering to their base, (the big corporations)."

For those who want to join in but can't make it down to Washington, D.C on the Jan. 20, there are a number of events scheduled in the state to protest the inauguration.

In Portsmouth, the Leftist Marching Band will perform a memorial service/jazz funeral in Market Square at 6 p.m. The band will play "funeral hymns, dirges, anthems and show tunes" to mark Bush's second term.

The First Parish Church in Dover will host a community concert and prayer for peace service at 7 p.m. The concert will feature local musicians Joyce Andersen, Susie Burke and David Surette, the Amity Singers and Rock of Ages, among others. First Parish Church Congregational is located at 218 Central Ave. For more information, call 603-742-5664.

Mothers Uniting, a peace and justice group based in Keene, will hold a "march for peace" starting in the Keene State College Student Center at noon. For more information, visit www.mothersuniting.org.

Also on tap for the day: the "Not One Damn Dime" boycott, in which people are encouraged to refrain from all forms of spending. Though not organized by any group, the boycott has a following on the Internet and a site, www.notonedamndime.com. The boycott will "remind the people in power that the war in Iraq is immoral and illegal; that they are responsible for starting it and that it is their responsibility to stop it," according to Web site.