Wausau Tea Party Update

The Wausau Tea Party held on the 4th,  despite some minor opposition came off very well.  On Thursday, I received a call from a friend about an article in City Pages, a local weekly, warning about the tea party.   She was complaining because the article made it seem as if a group of Right wing extremist had hijacked the American Legion’s Flag raising ceremony.  The truth of the matter is that there was only a loose link between the Legion’s ceremony at Noon, and the Tea Party that began an hour and half later.  The Tea party was using the same permit “with the understanding that their events were separate.”  In addition the Tea party was donating a share of the proceeds to the Legion for the support of troops serving overseas and their families.

Following City Page’s inaccurate story, the Legion received “anonymous callers”  who threatened a boycott of the Legion and so late on Friday the Legion cancel their fourth of July events.   When Tea Party supporters arrived to set up they discovered that somehow the sprinklers had been left on all night.  But they were able to get them turned off and by noon, the ground was reasonable dry.

The crowd started showing up around 11:00 and by the 1:30 start time was pretty large.  They were not the extremists City Pages had warned about, but rather a just a group of Americans concerned about their country, but still upbeat having a good time. There was no hate or anger in the speeches that were given, but concern and love of country.  And despite the reaction of the Legion to the anonymous callers the Tea Party will still be donating a share of the money raised to the Legions fund for the support of servicemen and their families serving overseas.   All and all a good day.