I agree - whether you agree with a president's policies, it's always memorable to say you got to meet the President of the United States in person. I know Pres. Obama came to my city a couple years ago to do something at a local Middle School, but it was very low key. I didn't even know he was coming - I only found out that evening on our local news when they reported he was in town ... almost like an after thought. I thought that was rather odd. I would have expected we would have known about the president visiting long before he arrived.
I recalled getting to see Pres. Reagan when I was in high school. He came to my home town and the city nearly shut down for the event. I recalled each of the high school bands "auditioned" by secret service or someone from the advance group to determine who would play "Hail to the Chief" (my band won that honor!). The day he arrived, some of the younger schools (elementary and middle) greeted him at the airport when Air Force One landed. The high schools went to the place downtown where they setup for the outdoor speech. We had to go through portable metal detectors and hand our instrument cases hand checked. We were setup in bleachers to one side of the stage where he was to give his speech. The other side of the venue was a wall of bleachers for the press. The most press presents I had witnessed at that point in my life. Then people from the area were admitted to a standing room only "area" in front of the stage. I recalled when Pres. Reagan got there, we played "Hail to the Chief". He gave about a 15 minute speech behind several panes of bulletproof glass, waved, and left. I have no idea what his speech was about - I just recall going to the event and seeing "the president"! We all had to wait a certain period of time before they started letting us out.
I still have pictures from that day. I will never forget it.