Richmond Beach Sign Burning

From The Extended Group

The Richmond Beach Sign Burning episode occured following election day in november 2002. Brett, Jeremy, Lukas, Stuart and others are remembered to have been involved.

The Plan

Looking for something to do, and possibly following a typically unproductive Pork band practice, a number of group members began talking about the election, and how there were so many signs still up around town. At some point, while driving around in Jeremy's van, talk began to shift to stealing the signs, for some as yet undetermined purpose. Some group members, including Stuart, expressed trepidation about this plan, but Brett reassured them that in fact, most of these signs were illegally placed on public property (which was true), and that, since the election was now over, they were fair game.

The Episode

After driving around and acquiring a healthy number of election signs (actual number is not recalled by the author) stacked in the back of the van, the group headed to the beach around nightfall. Here the plan took form: a fire was lit in the pit at Richmond Beach Park and with the aid of lighter fluid, the group began lighting aflame each of the campaign signs, some being placed upright in the sand, others waved around like Olympic torches, and still others hurled into the ocean.

Unfortunately, because most of the signs were small rectangular cardboard on a wooden board, when lit, many of the signs resembled crosses burned by the KKK and from a distance the ritual could easily have been mistaken for something much more sinister than a bunch of nerdy pyro high school students. Because of such concerns, and an increasing paranoia the cops were watching from a vantage point near The Bluff, the signs were put out and abandoned and the group left the park a short time later.