Ballina is around 3,800km from Washington DC but the bond between north Mayo and the US capital is particularly strong today.
Joe Biden's great, great, great grandfather, Edward Blewitt, emigrated from here to the United States in the 1850s.
It was a link that might have gone unnoticed until 2016, when the then vice president travelled to Ireland and found out more about his roots in both counties Mayo and Louth.
Since then, Mr Biden has forged a tight bond with his Blewitt cousins in the west, keeping in regular contact and returning here in 2017 to turn the sod on a new hospice development in Mayo.
They have travelled to the US to visit their relative too and had hoped to play an active role in the presidential election campaign, until Covid-19 threw everything into disarray.
In an ideal world, sibings Laurita and Joe Blewitt would have been in Washington for today's ceremony.
Instead they gathered in front of the television with Joe’s family and their father, to watch events unfold.
Their home was decorated with blue, red and white balloons and a Biden campaign flag fluttering on the gate post to signify their allegiance and pride.
For younger members of the family, there have been months of excitement.
Dara, Lauren and Emily Blewitt speak warmly about their distant cousin and are looking forward to visiting him in the Oval Office.
Their dad, Joe, is hopeful that the new president will be able to bring the US together and believes the new administration will hit the ground running.
His sister, Laurita, has been the main point of contact between the cousins on both sides of the Atlantic.
She was in the US last year before Covid-19 hit and is hoping that Mr Biden will visit his ancestral home place again before 2021 is out.
Celebrations around Ballina were muted today, with people keen to adhere to social distancing and public health guidelines.
But in better times, locals say they will mark the inauguration and the new US administration with President Biden himself.
In the meantime, a mural of Joe Biden remains in place on Market Square, close to where his maternal great, great, great grandfather was born over 200 years ago.
Today's inauguration has also been marked in Co Louth, where another branch of the Biden family tree has roots.
The US flag raised at the council headquarters in Dundalk to mark the event.
