West Palm Beach Tax Day Tea Party

The Tax Day Tea Party on April 15 in downtown West Palm Beach, Fla., was a hit. We had about 1,000 people show up, and the event went longer than expected, but everyone seemed to have a good time.

The speeches were especially good. Among the speakers were South Florida Tea Party leaders, local high school students, immigrants and doctors. Billy Bones also gave a few performances. But our big guest was Hannah Giles, the 20-year-old who took down ACORN by pretending to be a prostitute.

I also finally got to meet George Bennett, one of the political beat writers for The Palm Beach Post. In South Florida, we're blessed to have decent Tea Party coverage in the media; we're in The Post probably once a week, usually in articles by Bennett.

Here's Bennett's coverage from April 15:

Tea partyers rally at West Palm Beach tax day protest;

urged to be better activists

WEST PALM BEACH — After failing to derail health care overhaul in Washington last month and failing to sway a special congressional election in South Florida this week, tea party activists were challenged Thursday to do more than just protest.

"This week I saw a disaster unfold before my very eyes," conservative talk radio host Joyce Kaufman told a tax day crowd that approached 1,000. She was referring to Democrat Ted Deutch's 62.1 percent victory in a congressional race where tea partyers once vowed to make a national statement.

"I'm here today to warn you that if you don't activate and if each one of you doesn't bring somebody else to the tea party, bring somebody else to the table in August (for the primaries) and in November, then we have failed and we will go down in flames," Kaufman said.

"We've got to take it to the next step," South Florida Tea Party Chairman Everett Wilkinson said. "We've got to become activists, and that doesn't mean just coming out to protests."

Click here to read more.

I'm working on a video of the event (click here for a 30-second video I made of last year's Tea Party), but in the meantime, here are pictures I took (click to enlarge):

Meg, of SFTP, gives one of many media interviews.

No more pork barrel spending!

Those are tea bags crossed on his chest.

The pirate ship from last year's Tax Day Tea Party is back!

The event started at 5:30 p.m., but people started showing up two hours earlier.

The pig balloons were a hit! Everyone wanted one.

A colonial protester visits our SFTP volunteer table.

Awesome family!

Security stands guard to control the "angry mob" ... or anyone there to riot us.

This group had some of my favorite signs.

The lawn starts to fill up!

These guys had more of my favorite signs.

Patriots crowd by the stage as the rally begins.

Everett leads the Pledge of Allegiance with Palm Beach County students

and a sign language interpreter.

Hannah Giles addresses the crowd.

Dr. Richard Raborn, a vaccine physician,

speaks about the effects of the health care bill.

John Clark, a high school student, addresses the crowd.

Billy Bones performs.

Hannah Giles and The Real Polichick!

I'm very proud of the success of the event -- especially because I was nervous as the calendar approached April 15. Last year, I attended the Tax Day rally. This year, I helped organize it. And as President Barack Obama knows, being a community organizer is not easy! I wonder if he's proud ;)