Street Fair Coverage in New York Times

Our annual street fair, which we sponsor, received a write up in the Sunday New York Times:

Sometimes, it is an uphill battle for the club. "Young Republicans?" snorted one passer-by, a burly middle-aged man. "I didn’t know there were any young Republicans!"

"Unoriginal," muttered Mr. Peterson, who works at a real estate management company. "But it's a fairly typical comment." Most passers-by acted indifferent.

It was worse in 2004, said Mr. Hornak, who thought up the idea of sponsoring street fairs as a way of increasing membership.

By June of that year, it was becoming clear that John Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president, might go down in defeat.

Mr. Hornak, who was staffing the booth then, recalled that passers-by routinely cursed, spat and threw food at the Young Republican booth.

"It didn’t bother me, and it doesn’t bother me," said Mr. Hornak, who works for Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco. "I have thick skin. If my presence here can make them feel that insecure, it actually makes me feel stronger."

Every year since then, the atmosphere has improved. "It's gotten mellower and mellower," Mr. Hornak said, "because people decided that that’s it, Bush is in until the end of 2008."

Mayor Bloomberg's popularity helped improve the tone, as well, he said. "Once the Democrats aren’t attacking you, they're listening."