At the last big rally in Asheville, for “Hands Off,” on March 8, the crowd was estimated in the neighborhood of 8,000. Rhiannon and I sat just off the stage, near the info tables. We gave our little ½ page PS flyers to a few of the people running the tables. This resulted in us getting an invitation to have a PS table at today’s “Good Trouble” rally.
We love ritual theatre, so Rhiannon ordered Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam costumes. I printed out a batch of our PS postcards, bookmarks, and ½-page flyers—and larger table signs of the 1st Amendment and Pagan Solidarity. I ran off a couple dozen PS and CAW trifold brochures. We also printed a bunch of “What is Paganism?” one-pagers and a 4-page list of “Direct Action Resources” that Rhiannon put together. We also packed up a 14” statue of my Millennial Gaia and the big 24”x48” Paganism banner I’d designed a couple of years ago for Pagan Pride events. The table looked really nice!
(Note: all these signs and handouts are available here on our PS website for anyone else to print out for your own events and rallies. That’s what they’re for!)
The rally today was a lot smaller—maybe 500 or so. But we got a fair amount of attention and interest; People took many of our items, and many more photos.
To everyone we spoke of standing for religious freedom for everybody, referencing the 1st Amendment. People really responded positively to our table and message, and we encountered no negativity whatsoever, only good vibes. Quite a few stayed to talk to us, and we gave out contact info for our monthly drum circles to a several people. Nearly all the local Pagans knew our good friend Byron Ballard. But no other Pagan groups were there.
All in all, it was a very good day for a Pagan presence in Asheville. We look forward to more.
NT/BB-OZ
