The turn out was much less than I had hoped. It was cold and windy but at least it didn’t rain. Next time we need a better PA system and a location with better access.
I would say the turnout was good. The VA Pilot reported 700, but I arrived at about 12:15 PM and people were arriving and leaving so the total numbers were constantly changing. My best guess is that well over a 1000 were there over the 2 hour period.
The problem with the venue was that there was almost no street parking. It took me nearly 45 minutes to get out of the parking garage. The second problem was that the speakers were not understandable because of the reflections of the sound system off of the high rise buildings one side of the plaza. I heard fine on one side but could not make out what they were saying from the other side.
The crowd was large and enthusiastic. The primary speaker was a leader of the local Libertarians who also happened to work for the Department of Homeland Security and he was very critical of their position on threats from the so-called “radical right.”