lots and lots of pix
To say thank you to all our hardworking volunteers, not to mention gorge on delicious ice cream, Jon and I decided to throw a Volunteer Ice Cream Party two Saturdays ago. The owner of a locally popular (and yummy) ice cream shop, is a libertarian and big fan of Michael's, so she hosted us at the store. We got the whole second story balcony set aside just for us, and about 30 volunteers showed up. Any more and we would have been falling over the rail! Everybody had a great time.
Michael, delivering one of his inspiring pep talks.
You can see all the goodies we set out for volunteers to take home. That's a framed photo of our first billboard, the first poster we ever printed for our upcoming rock concert (more info on that for a later post), and the brand new ":) if you <3 liberty!" bumper stickers. They were a huge hit, and we're already cleaned out. Jon had to order more.
There's Jon now, with the baseball cap, our very able Assistant Campaign Manager. I couldn't have set up this party without him - see how well he hands out ice cream? You can't trust that job to just anyone! Her back is turned and you can't really see her face, but that's Susan the treasurer helping him out. To the left is Rick, who runs Liberty Bumper Sticker and is responsible for all our cool brochures/business cards/bumper stickers. Including the <3 Liberty one. He's very pleased with its success.
The day was hot and the breeze sporadic, but who cares when you're surrounded by a fun-loving volunteers and have melted Bailey's Irish Coffee Flavor in your mouth? Darling LJers, I wish with all my heart that the nonlocal supporters could be there too. One day we'll find a way to thank you just like this for all your hard work.
The next weekend was even hotter and stickier than the one before it - and no ice cream in sight! Instead we'd set up our table at the local Deutschen Pfest, an annual event put on by Pflugerville. Yes, that's spelled correctly, a smallish but adorable suburb just north of Austin and entirely within Michael's district. We get tables at events like these at least once a month, just to give Michael a chance to put on his cowboy hat and tie and go meet people. It's what he does best. The man responsible for all the following photos is volunteer Johnny Rincon, and he did a fantastic job.
Doesn't the table look great? We really learned from our experience at Austin Reggae Fest, in which we had little but some fliers on an unprotected table while we melted under the sun. Now we've got a tent and some first-rate signs up, and it's so much more attractive.
Here's Wes in front of the Texas LP's table, bragging that his tent has the Lone Star Flag theme. The LP and the Badnarik campaign are technically separate organizations, but we often work events together. Notice the Operation Politically Homeless chart he's standing next to.
An LP volunteer puts up a sticker for this curious citizen's score. If you squint, you'll see that they used different colored stickers according to what each person 'thought' they were. It's always amazing what people learn from this quiz - some Democrats ended up on the right side and some Republicans on the left, and quite a lot of people were in the Libertarian zone.
More of Michael proselytizing. I don't know how he does it in such sweltering heat; you can see me in the background in my far more sensible khaki shorts. I didn't like the way I looked in any of the other photos, so that's all you'll see of me!
No matter how hot it got, I kept reminding myself that I wasn't as bad off as this guy.
What's up with the volleyball? Well, it's cute, and it's smiley, like our new :) if you <3 liberty bumper stickers, and Jon thought it would be funny to buy one from Wal-Mart and put it on our table. See how Michael is smiling? It's because he loves liberty!
