Posted on 03/21/2009 4:19:17 PM PDT by Roos_Girl
What a great event! Lisa Feroli and the gang hosting the event did a fantastic job of organizing.
The Tea Party was supposed to last from noon to 2pm. I got there around 10am and met up with SeekTheTruth and her hubby and we started getting set up. There was a good number of people already there. Fantastic job and a big Thank You to Freeper "surfer" who ordered and donated a 3' x 8' banner with the simple message www.FreeRepublic.com. And well done and Thank You to Freeper MinuteGal for supplying business cards with Free Republic information, all of which were handed out!
We had a good number of people stop by the table that either were already Freepers or who said they were regular viewers and every one of them commented that Free Republic was the best conservative forum on the web!
There was a lot of talk about Glen Beck showing up, but he did not. However, our own Kristinn Taylor was the last speaker of the day and (not being biased or anything) Matchett-PI and I thought they saved the best for last. This is a list of the other speakers:
Tom Gaitens, Florida coordinator, FreedomWorks
Nathan Pick, Americans for Tax Reform
Harry Mihet, Senior Litigation Counsel, Liberty Counsel
Jon H. Gutmacher Esq, local attorney and second amendment expert
Andrea Shea King internet radio talk show host
SeekTheTruth was kind enough to supply a disposable camera and the pictures I took with it are posted below. I stayed at the Free Republic table most of the time, except to get a closer seat when Kristinn was speaking. There was such a huge crowd I was mostly trying capture the number of people there and had to do that by just holding the camera up over my head and hoping I was catching something good! Hopefully some other Freepers will post their pictures too and add their comments about their experience from their vantage points.
I was too far away to get a good photo, but this is Kristinn speaking and chargin up the crowd.
It was great to meet each of you and put a face with a “name”. Thanks to each of you, especially Roos_girl, for all you did to help put together this terrific event!
Kristinn did a terrific job...as always. Sorry I couldn’t stick around to personally thank him. Had to begin 2 hour drive back to St. Pete to get to walk my dog....she was definitely glad to see me.....lol.
Thanks for posting pics so quickly. From where I was standing, it was difficult to see how many people attended.
Wow.....lots!! Great event!
Would be great if all the Regional Tea Parties combined and made the NEXT STOP WASHINGTON! A ring around the Capitol may get the attention of “our” representatives.
Good job you guys!!! That was great and the photos awesome. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all the tea party attendees came together for one big tea party? Wow.
I was so glad that I got a chance to meet you and the others at the table after the event was over. I couldn’t find you earlier because the crowds were so thick I couldn’t make it that far.
I took lots of photos, but it will take me a while to get them posted. Let me know if it’s OK to post photos of you and any other freepers; I have seen such photos after other events, but if anyone wishes to remain anonymous, I will certainly honor that.
I saw an interesting event on the walk back to my car. In front of the library, a channel 2 news cameraman was setting up to do an interview with 2 people with Obaman shirts on, and as I was approaching them, someone else came up and shouted to the cameraman “you sure had a tough time finding counter-protesters, didn’t you”. He responded “naw, this was set up ahead of time”. I missed the evening news, but I am curious if this interview was run, and if it was identified as a set-up piece. If anyone saw it, let us know; it was a rather grungy looking white male and a black woman in front of the library, which is a distinctive looking building that any local can instantly recognize.
bttt
I think it’s fine for you to post whatever pictures you’ve got.
Very interesting about the “set up”, but sadly not surprised
Nice pix! Thanks!
Excellent photos! What a turnout!
It’s interesting that they had to set up their pro-Obama interview.
Did Bud Henniger, WFLA 540, make the event?
He was talking on his show about the Lake Eola Tea Party.
He has a pretty big listening audience, so I think
the “set up interview” might be small peanuts compared
to what the Budman will talk about on Monday’s show.
TPD
Here's a closer shot of him: 
If this works, I'll post a few more shortly.
Great pics, thanks! Good close up of Kristinn who did a gave a terrific talk.
Channel 13 has a short report here
www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2211562/posts
Pictures are shown here
http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/
Channel 9 is going to have another report after the break at 11:13.
Bud was the master of ceremonies for the Orlando Tea Party. I think he did a good job of keeping things moving along. Over all I think the whole thing was great, now we have to keep it going!
Ravenstar
P.S. Failed to mention that it was reported to be a well organized, peaceful event with a patriotic theme. Channel 9 just said it was estimated to be over 4,000 people there.
Congratulations on a job well done!
I just saw the interview on channel 2, and it wasn't presented as counter-protesters, but as volunteers for Obama's canvassers who are going door to door to have petitions signed to support the Kenyan's economic plan. Why did they do this across the street from the tea party if it wasn't related?
They also did a brief segment on the tea party just before this one, and seemed to spend about the same amount of air time on each one. I would have thought that 5,000+ people would get more time than 2, but what do I know? I'm just a conservative taxpayer, and after all, Obama won, so anyone who disagrees with him doesn't rate much air time.
Here's a couple more pictures; this one is RoosGirl, Surfer, Matchett-PI, and I'm sorry I can't remember the lady in front: 
Here you are, seekthetruth, with RoosGirl on the right:
Great pics! I just saw the 10:00 report on Fox News 35 and it was fantastic! The many people they interviewed said all the right things and the news cameras captured a lot of the signs as well. The news called it a group of mostly conservatives and a peaceful gathering and protest of bailouts, socialism and big government. CHANNEL 9 (WFTV) IS ALSO SHOWING THE TEA PARTY. THAT IS THE STATION WITH BARBARA WEST WHO INTERVIEWED BIDEN ABOUT SOCIALISM. KRISTINN YELLED OVER AND OVER AT THE MIC AT THE TEA PARTY “APOLOGIZE TO BARBARA WEST” BECAUSE OBAMA BLOCKED THE STATION FROM ANY MORE INTERVIEWS AFTER SHE DID THE BIDEN INTERVIEW. KRISTINN SAID WFTV LEFT EARLY SO THEY DID NOT GET HIM AT THE MIC. BUT THEY STILL SHOWED CLIPS OF THE TEA PARTY AND MENTIONED ANOTHER ONE APRIL 15TH. I am not sure if ch. 6 (WKMG) and Ch. 2 (WESH) covered it but probably so. This Tea Party was a great success and the crowd definitely was prepared to speak to the media. WhooHoo! It was a lot of fun and it was nice to meet more of you Freepers!
WOW! GRRRRRREAT pics, turnout, report, AMERICANS!!!
Hey all! I was there today with my two sons, husband, and sister. We held signs on the walkway right by the street near the Lake Eola tall green sign. We could not even get a glimpse of the stage over that hill! I met one freeper there, addictedto truth. It was a pleasure.
We had dozens of photos taken of the three of us (my two sons and I) holding signs, while my sister and husband worked their way up to the ampitheater to get video of the rally so I could see it later. There were THOUSANDS upon thousands there! You couldn’t move anywhere! I and my one son held signs of Thomas Jefferson quotes, and my youngest son had a obama bin lyin sign with www.freerepublic.com on the bottom. I hope some other freepers saw me and will let me know! We were there from 1 to 2 because parking was impossible, but hubby dropped us off and went around til he found some, bless his heart :). Will attempt to post photos during the week. Thank you all for a great event!
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