VICE Covers Buzz’s Gay Dance Party!

Buzz

Buzz, of Buzz’s Big Gay Dance Party, beaming at the final party. _Photo Courtesy VICE

In at least their fourth story in the last few years related to the Free State Project, the excellent VICE.com has focused in on the amazing Buzz’s Big Gay Dance Party which had its final of six years this year at the Porcupine Freedom Festival.  Porcfest will continue, perhaps with a new epic party – only time will tell.

For now, enjoy Michelle Lhooq’s report on Buzz’s final awesome bash and the photos (then come to Hallowkeene at Keenevention 2015!)

For additional perspective on being gay at Porcfest, visit Joe Jarvis’ blog of his experience at this year’s week-long camping festival populated by mostly libertarians and voluntarists.  If you love liberty, regardless of sexual orientation, you’ll probably really enjoy Porcfest.

Here’s the excellent story about the BGDP from VICE.

Keene Parking Czar Resigns!

Robin Hood of KeeneThe “Parking Czar”, Gary Lamoureux has announced he is leaving his position later this summer. Lamoureux had become the “city parking project manager” after retiring from the city fire department, which made him a “double-dipper” – collecting over $90,000 a year in pension payments AND getting a regular paycheck (more than $50,000 per year) for his parking job on top! Don’t forget to count in the sweet government benefits. Must be nice to be in the government gang, huh?

According to the Sentinel story on his resignation by Martha Shanahan, Lamoureux leaves at the end of August and claims that his decision to quit had nothing to do with the city council coming close to eliminating his position. Lamoureux’s legacy will be overseeing the mostly failed lawsuit against Robin Hood of Keene and proposing parking rate and fine increases that have ultimately gone nowhere and have been very unpopular among the people of Keene.

According to the Sentinel piece, Lamoureux will make one final push for parking rate and fine increases before heading off into the sunset to cash his sweet, sweet pension checks.

Hallowkeene 2015 Announced at Final Buzz’s Big Gay Dance Party

HALLOWKEENE

Hallowkeene 2014

It’s BAAAAACK! This past weekend on-stage at Buzz’s Big Gay Dance Party, Derrick J and Ian Freeman announced Hallowkeene as a spiritual successor to Buzz’s party which ended this year in an amazing, awesome finale on Friday night at Porcfest.

Last year was Hallowkeene‘s first, experimental year. We had dozens attend! It was a blast, raising more than $500 for Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht’s defense fund.

This year’s event promises to be even better, with a new venue, running later, until 1:30am. Attendance will be restricted to Keenevention attendees and their guest. Tickets for Keenevention are just $50 for the whole weekend, but go up to $60 or BTC in July (tomorrow), so lock in your earlybird price now!

Porcfest 2015 Media Roundup

PorcfestLast week, Porcfest (the Porcupine Freedom Festival), the Free State Project‘s yearly camping festival in the White Mountains of Northern New Hampshire, was already generating headlines across the state, before it had even begun.

Here’s more media coverage of Porcfest 2015:

I may update this post with more entries as I discover them.

VIDEO: What Happens When Govt Thugs Threaten Porcfest

Near high noon today, the first full day of the Free State Project‘s annual Porcupine Freedom Festival, two agents (Phillip Lawrence and Ray Persinger) from the “Department of Revenue” rolled up to Rogers Campground. The sharply-dressed thugs inquired with campground staff if there were food vendors in Agora Alley, a place renown for delicious food available from some vendors who may not have bothered asking government permission to serve their fellow hungry humans.

Upon exiting the office, I immediately began recording and confronted the men. Here’s the video of that encounter:

A crowd of activists quickly gathered, with multiple alerts going out via two-way radio, facebook, and word-of-mouth. They weren’t able to get any further than the first vendor before being told they were not welcome by multiple people in the crowd. A campground staff member ultimately told the criminals to go speak with the park owner, Crosby.

After thirty minutes of meeting with Crosby, the men immediately exited the property. Crosby refused to be interviewed about the conversation, but claimed he was not threatened by them. I suspect he’s not being forthcoming. Porcfest organizers would also not speak on camera, but the conversation I had and overheard leads me to believe that Crosby has been recruited to pass out government paperwork to food vendors. I plan to investigate further with the vendors and see what’s happening behind-the-scenes. Stay tuned here to FreeKeene.com for the latest on this developing situation. Also, Porcfest is just starting, so come out and join us through this weekend!

UPDATE: One vendor reports that Crosby did not hand him the paperwork from the state when the vendor indicated that he’s got his books in order. We’ll be discussing the incident on Free Talk Live tonight at 7pm Eastern. You can listen live at LRN.FM.