Grass-roots enthusiasm for the TEA -- an acronym for "Taxed Enough Already" -- party that randomly spread like wildfire this April across the state amid the economic and budget crises is now an organized regional effort here in the Central Valley.

This past April 15, hundreds of people rallied in events in communities from Merced all the way down to Hanford to Bakersfield, waving American flags and protesting taxes, government overspending and lack of representation by politicians.

Some of the like minds are now banding together under the same anti-tax and anti-spending slogans to appeal to the entire Valley, and they want to do it by putting on one giant Tea Party in Tulare this Fourth of July.

Dubbed "Freedom Rally Tea Party," the event is scheduled to take place at the International Agri-Center, 4500 S. Laspina St., Tulare.

The event runs from 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

The "Tea Party" movement that resulted in numerous local protests against the "broken" government on National Tax Day in April has since taken on a life of its own. The July 4 event is proof of that, says Eric Hughes, spokesman for the Central Valley Tea Party, a new organization that is putting on the event.

"On April 15, when they had their tax rallies, the one in Bakersfield expected 500 people and they had about 3,000 show up. Fresno was expecting 1,000, and 8,000 showed up," Hughes said. "Everybody wanted to get involved and help build it up. Then we merged into one umbrella group, which encompasses from Bakersfield to Merced. It continues to grow ."

The group decided to pick a patriotic weekend to hold another event in Tulare, hoping it's centrally located enough that it encourages people from across the Valley to attend.

With the response they are getting so far, organizers anticipate about 10,000 people will show up.

Hughes said water rights activists supporting the release of water to the west side of the Valley will join the rally to advance their cause. They would bring 10,000-15,000 of their own people to energize the rally, Hughes said.

The Tea Parties representing various communities, including one in Kings County, will stick to their own agenda, Hughes said.

"Education and awareness will be our priority," Hughes said. "Our focus is strictly on fiscal responsibility by the government. Because of that we have Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Green Party, men and women, Hispanics and African-Americans. We have a huge cross-section of people involved in this."

Hughes added that through the event, the group does hope to get politicians in Washington and Sacramento to realize that there is a large population that is unhappy with the way they are representing their state and the country.

Eventually, the group hopes to identify candidates in each district in the Valley that members can get behind and help them run for office so "they can get some of these things fixed," Hughes said.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2429.

(June 12, 2009)