Walkerville: Calm, peaceful and organized

Walkerville, by Phil Ejercito

The first morning dawned on Walkerville as more than 250 Wisconsin residents emerged from their tents outside the state Capitol. The night passed calmly and peacefully, with the exception of a few drunks shouting "I love Scott Walker" when the Madison bars closed. Tweeted @songofautumn

#walkerville=awesome. Was an easier night than I expected. Just sad that won't be able to stay tonight

 Walkerville is a 17-day protest of Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker's proposed cuts to education, health care and public services. The whole point of the tent city is to remind people of "Hoovervilles," the tent cities that sprang up when the Great Depression was exacerbated by President Hoover's austerity budget.

So far, Walkerville has been peaceful and well-organized. There are rules and regulations, portable toilets, a handwashing station, an information tent and a medic station. Defend Wisconsin gives a great roundup of events. Tomorrow at 11:30 a.m., for example, there will be a march to “Say NO to Walker’s Budget” and to support the Walkerville Tent City. At 5 pm there will be a phone bank (with cell phones!) to recall Scott Walker at the We are Wisconsin Action Center.

Twitter, though, is the best way to follow what's going on. @WisCairo tweeted an invitation to

come for a few hundred free brats & chili at a picnic at 4:30 in #Walkerville. If people can bring buns, that'd be helpful!

And: 

A teach-in about K-12 education in WI is happening at 3:30 - 5:00pm on the State Street steps today.

Channel 3000 reports local businesses around the square support the protesters.

Peter McElvanna, who owns Coopers Tavern on the Capitol Square, said he isn't worried about the round-the-clock presence of protesters.

"I'm happy to support what's going on here," said McElvanna. "It's very important what people are doing -- standing up for your rights. Too often the government doesn't listen to the little man and it's our right to protest."

Organizers of the protest said they worked hard to protect the interests of downtown businesses.

"We worked to address the concerns of the downtown business community, so we're trying to stay ahead of the curve and make sure folks are compliant with that," said organizer Peter Rickman.

Stay tuned for more.