(My mom and I at the 9/12 March on DC)
After attending the first round of tea parties in February (in DC), I started looking online for a tea party in KC. After not finding one, I called up a few of my good political friends and we decided to start one ourselves.
It was a crash course in event planning- I had never attempted such a thing in my life. My heart was set on a venue that is both beautiful and symbolic, the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, MO. The only World War I monument in the nation, it also is home to the eternal flame. How fitting that we could celebrate our freedom and political awakening in a place of such historical significance. Another great irony is that the Liberty Memorial is located just across the street from the Federal Reserve.
With most of my organizing experience being in political campaigns, I decided to approach the whole thing as if election day was April 15th, and we had a campaign to run. At our first volunteer meeting there were a mere 8 people there, and none of us had any idea what we were in for. We divided up tasks: writing letters to the editor, creating a facebook event, Tweeting about our progress, and most importantly, finding people to speak at our event. Slowly but surely, we began to gather momentum. Volunteers stepped up. First, someone donated a state of the art professional sound system. Someone donated temporary fencing. Flags, clipboards, nametags... donations began flowing in from complete strangers. After launching our first online donation drive (via Paypal), we raised over $800 from people, many of whom we had never met face to face.
Then, we got good news. The Liberty Memorial approved our permit. They would allow us to have our event at their monument for free! Our permit said we expected about 200-300 attendees. Imagine the shock to both of us when the crowd started rolling in.
With the money we raised, we were able to buy a few hundred yard signs, which we distributed all over the KC metro area. We also purchased over 100 shirts to give to all the people who signed up to volunteer. One of my friends and KC local, Megan Spilker, designed our shirt and it was wildly popular.
I still vividly remember our first volunteer meeting. Here I am, an inexperienced 20 year old, who blindly sent out an email into cyber space inviting people to a volunteer meeting at my dad's office on a Saturday afternoon. I expected about 10 of my friends and family to show up. Imagine my surprise when over 75 people filed in the door. We ran out of nametags, people were overflowing into the hallways, and I had to do an impromptu volunteer orientation to a much different crowd than I had expected. It was the first time that I realized that there might be more "crazy" people out there than just us.
Momentum began to build, and more people began showing up at our meetings. Speakers began popping up out of nowhere. One day local radio star Chris Stigall called and asked if they could be involved. Stigall became our keynote speaker, and broadcast our event all over KC. They brought in trucks so that we could donate to charity. Not only did the KC people fill the truck, they donated hundreds of dollars. Krispy Kreme donated hundreds of donuts, and Axiom Strategies donated money for noisemakers for the crowd.
Speakers began calling from all over. In the few days before the event, I got calls from Lt. Governor Peter Kinder's staff, someone from the Mayor's office, Congressional candidates, Congressmen, and various other people of influence. A lot of people who had never paid any attention to our vision before suddenly came out of the woodwork hoping to get involved in what was shaping up to be an influential movement.
Groups joined in as well: Campaign for Liberty, Americans for Prosperity, the Constitution Party.
Nothing could have prepared any of us for what happened on April 15th. We arrived early at the sprawling grounds of the Liberty Memorial. We began setting up at about 10am. The event was supposed to start at 4PM. We fenced off the perimeter, planning on funneling everyone through a central tent so they could sign in, and pick up extra signs if they needed them. People began arriving hours early, at 2PM.
The grass started filling up with people of all ages, backgrounds and political persuasions. Our tea party was a non-partisan movement aimed at expressing our dissatisfaction with out of control government spending and taxation.
The gravity of what we pulled off didn't hit me until I climbed to the top of the Liberty Memorial. On a picture perfect April afternoon, I leaned over the wall of the memorial and looked down. Later, estimates would come in that there were 5,000 people there that day. At that moment, though, we finally felt like we weren't alone after all.
Our group is still together, and still working hard. The Platte County Landmark named our tea party the "Best Political Event of 2009". We've gained momentum and accomplished great things. But it all started that day at the Liberty Memorial. Well, perhaps it started long before that- with a vision and faith that one person can make a difference.
Chris Stigall and 710 have some great coverage on their website:
http://www.710kcmo.com/StigallShow/KansasCityTaxDayTeaParty/tabid/453/Default.aspx
Links:
KC Blogger Dee Vantuyl did a write up with pictures.
Platte County Landmark Editorial about the Tea Party (under April 24)
NiceDeb Blog Post
