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.
Taxman Bravo Zulu! to all who planned, executed and participated!
I found the FR table after the event was over, and posted some photos of it upthread.
LOL. I had no idea you even took it! It was a pleasure to meet you and I look forward to many more! Eventually, they will not be able to ignore us!
I am going to the one in West Palm Beach on the 15th, hope to see you there!!
Sorry I got your name wrong on my after report. I will do better next time.... Truth Addict!
No problem, I'm not exactly a household name around here!
Wow! wow! Wow! Bttt
I was going to go with my wife and friends but my doctor scheduled a last min MRI on my back and put it smack dab right at 12:00 pm. So pissed I missed this.
I don’t get why Beck didn’t show up? He has been hinting on his show the last 2 days that he was headed to a tea party in Orlando and even did his show from the Orlando Fox studios on Friday. I thought for sure he was going to be there.
We had 60 people that came on a bus from Daytona, we had a great time. I think I got some folks interested in FR. Keep up the good work and thanks for all you do.
Hi Marci,
Thanks so much for joining us! The event was spectacular and the crowd was fantastic. Everyone was respectful and passionate. We were, of course disappointed with the media coverage. The first news out was from clf13 and they estimated the crowd at 3000, so that was what started buzzing across the internet. The manager of the amphitheater who was on site said the city estimated the crowd at 5k-6k and the police on site wholeheartedly agreed. So, do your best to pass that correct number around, please. Channel 13 later even said "Hundreds gathered at Lake Eola..." and so did Channel 2! Hundreds!! Give me a break!
Thanks so much to Free Republic for being a part of it!
Shelly
So the MSM can underestimate by 50% maybe we should have overturned some cars or something.
Brevard County, Florida ping. Brevard County, Florida ping.Let me try it this time using the list.
Let me know if you want on or off this ping list.
(not associated with the county government)
The Drive Byes always inflate the left's crowd numbers at their gatherings by 50%, and deflate the Right's crowd numbers by 50%. So the correct estimate should be between 4500-5000. Which, from a trained observer's eye, looks about right.
5.56mm
Thread with links and stories about Orlando and other events.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2211941/posts
There’s tax revolt in the air (Tea Party/Tax Revolt updates & links)
Thanks for all you did! Sure looking forward to attending other Florida events and especially our Florida Freeper Convention the weekend of April 24th!
Leni
WONDERFUL JOB BUMP!
This story from Orlando Sentinel is now posted on Drudge:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-locteaparty21032209mar22,0,426670.story
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