I am not an expert on estimating crowd size. We left about an hour in, and the size of the crowd had stabilized by then, having been on the increase before then. There was one local TV news franchise present at the start, KOMO, who I believe is the Seattle area CBS affiliate (not sure though, we do not use TV news). KOMO left shortly after start, when the crowd got really large for the area, would have filled their field of focus. On provocateur we saw for certain stood behind us with a sign I did not read but could feel was malcontent. I turned around and faced him, not looking in his face, and he left. Young, tall, caved-in chest, "metro sexual," self-debilitated, probably Capitol Hill hanger. Six mounted police drinking coffee across the street, left some time during the first 45 minutes. Two police teams on the near rear perimeter stood down and withdrew to the far rear perimeter, out of close tactical touch, within 45 minutes of start. Several males probably spooks. One male probably wearing an exposed semi-auto pistol, only noticed it in the photo, where I also noticed him filming me and smirking. Profile not that of an operator. Otherwise, very competent, affluent people, well-groomed ladies especially obvious, in large numbers. Some well-groomed men, one mixed African-American-European male, young, supporting the event. But almost everyone simple, good, loyal Americans by profile. Two Paul-istas manned a small table across the street, outlandishly dressed. Someone needs to emerge who focuses this energy, the depth of which is not yet reached, to resolute, definite, liberating action. If one does not, this vector can turn violent and/or introspective going towards schizophrenic. The feelings are running very deep and unless canalized for decisive, constructive functions are potentially very destructive. I estimate, with no qualification to do this, a crowd of 3-500 people. Keli Carender was the EMCEE, good job, not all the speakers deserved the dias. The ones who did not demonstrated by their empty-handedness the need for a focusing individual leadership, not a dictator but a father of the family.

I've written a blogpost, at http://thirtysecondthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/04/seattle-tea-party.html. I've also created a Flickr set for photos, at http://www.flickr.com/photos/37037663@N00/sets/72157616753208001/.

We had a great turnout in downtown Seattle. Estimates put the crowd at 1500 or so. There were no interuptions of consequence. We will be posting information regarding future events and information about local groups and organizations at http://teapartwa.org. Video coming soon.

April 15, 2009 by Hank Bradley

Seattle Tax Day Tea Party 5:45-7:45 pm, Westlake Park

Host: Seattle Sons and Daughters of Liberty: A Seattle Action Network
email: redistributingknowledge@gmail.com

The Seattle Tax Day Tea Party, presided over by one Liberty Belle in a Tinker Belle costume in Westlake Park, attracted an estimated 200-300 people who carried a wide spectrum of signs and remained for two hours to hear several speakers. The main themes were the desire for smaller government, less government spending and a hope to head off the taxes inevitably required for such spending. Spirited opposition to the goals and officials of the Obama administration was voiced, notable in the signage carried by the people attending.

Seattle was prepared for some anarchic activity with about 30 police on foot, bicycles and horseback, spaced around the periphery of the crowd. The occasion was noisy but remained stable, and no police attention was required beyond the calming of one contentious youth by a quiet discussion with two foot patrolmen. The attendees ranged from young families to retirees, and were vociferous, though civil and jovial in demeanor.

A van representing KOMO 4 News was parked adjacent to the speakers platform prior to the program, but drove off at 6 pm as the speeches began. No overt representatives of mainstream media were noted during the duration of the program.

This reportâ??s estimate of 200-300 attendees was overwhelmed by Thursdayâ??s Seattle Times article, which claimed 1,000-1,200. Examination of a photograph taken for this report from above the protest gives a count of 235 heads. Most of the crowd is visible from this height. Even allowing for some folks not visible from the camera, this estimate still appears far more reliable than the Seattle Times figure.

Photos:
3 Obamaâ??s Socialism â?? chains we can believe in
38 Pelosi pork
78 Crowd from overhead
90 Taxation with representation aint so great either
110 Guilty of right wing extremist chatter
111 Upset and thinking of a strongly worded letter

Liberty Belle was dressed as ALICE IN WONDERLAND, not "TINKERBELLE", nor (thank you, Seattle Slimes) "Little Bo Peep!

It was a TEA PARTY!!!

She said she had "FALLEN DOWN A RABBIT HOLE!!!"