First Coffee Party held in St. Augustine

Historic City News has learned that leaders of the fledgling Coffee Party movement hosted events at 350 coffeehouses in 44 states across the country on Saturday, including here in St. Augustine.

The first Coffee Party in St. Augustine was held at Gaufres and Goods at 9 Aviles Street, downtown.

Locals in attendance abandoned traditional party lines and spoke up about special concerns, sharing their stories with civility and respect.

Angela Masson, Lee Henry, Peter Glass, Pamela Bicknell, Sami Bicknell, and Kenyon Bicknell were among those in attendance.

Annabel Park, the movement’s founder, is angry at what she perceived as media overexposure of the conservative Tea Party movement. At the meeting Saturday, the mood was “coffee is stronger than tea”.

Coffee Party USA is made up of people acting independently of political parties, of corporations, and of political lobbying networks.

“We want a society in which democracy is treated as sacrosanct and ordinary citizens participate out of a sense of civic duty, civic pride, and a desire to contribute to society,” Park said.

Nationally, turnout at the events has been mixed.

Organizers of the St. Augustine Coffee Party say that everyone is welcome to join in issue identification and consensus building.

If you missed Saturday’s first meeting, you will have another chance to participate.

The next meeting is scheduled for March 27th, at 1:00 P.M. to be held at the Barnes and Noble Cafe’ located at 1930 US 1 South.

Photo credit: © 2010 Historic City News contributed photograph by Grace Dzierlatka