Lloyd in the Union Lleader

[KBCraig]

Lloyd, error, Dan, and others. 

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?articleId=d0984923-15c1-4065-961f-4069cb9385d3

PorcFest draws liberty lovers

By ROGER AMSDEN
New Hampshire Union Leader Correspondent
21 hours, 57 minutes ago

GILFORD – Members of the Free State Project are expected to turn out 500 strong for the fifth annual PorcFest being held through Saturday at the Gunstock Mountain Resort.

More than 500 Free State members are already residents of the state, including Dan Garthwaite, 32, of Manchester, a computer systems consultant, who moved from Rhode Island earlier this year and says the state is a great fit for him and his liberty-loving philosophy.

"I'm a rock climber and I ski and snowmobile and have two motorcycles. This state has all the things I've been looking for. And I like the Live-Free-or-Die mentality," says Garthwaite.

He was one of several Free Staters who took part in a roadside cleanup effort early in May in Manchester while wearing holstered pistols, an event which drew both praise and criticism after it received front page coverage in the New Hampshire Sunday News.

Garthwaite says he would have arrived in New Hampshire even sooner had he not been involved in Ron Paul's presidential campaign in Rhode Island.

He wears a pin proclaiming that he is one of the "First 1,000" to make the move to New Hampshire, as does Michael Hampton, publisher of the Homeland Stupidity Web site, which pokes fun at bureaucratic ineptness.

"I came here to have more freedom. I wanted to work in a state that's not burdened with a lot of restrictions," said Hampton, who moved to New Hampshire from Wisconsin 18 months ago and says that as far as he's concerned the state has lived up to it's billing as a good place for free-thinking libertarians.

Hampton said that he was also a strong supporter of Ron Paul's presidential bid and that his minimalist government ideas resound well with Free Staters.

Rich Goldman of Baltimore, Md., coordinator for the second year for the PorcFest (short for Porcupine Festival), says that 450 people turned out last year at Gunstock. With the added attraction of live music Friday and Saturday, he's expecting more than 500 people this year.

"Last year it was about half New Hampshire residents and half from other states. This year it's about 60-40 from out of state," says Goldman, 24, who is working on his doctorate in information systems technology and plans to move to New Hampshire, probably the Nashua area, after he completes his studies.

"I think we've turned this into a cool event for cool people and that it really showcases what the Free State Project is all about," says Goldman, Formed in 2001, the Free State Project chose New Hampshire in 2003 as the state where it hopes to have 20,000 pro-liberty activists migrate in an effort to create a society in which the role of government is limited to the protection of life, liberty, and property.

Rich Paul, 38, formerly of Ann Arbor, Mich., and now living in Charleston, S.C., said that he's "taking a crooked path to get to New Hampshire," but plans to definitely move to the Granite State within five years.

"There are so many geeks in the Free State Project that we're going to flood the state with computer experts," said Paul, who is a computer programmer in the financial services industry.

He wore a holstered pistol at the event and had a warm reunion with Kayleen Agte, who recently moved to Manchester and was wearing a "Girls Just Wanna Have Guns" shirt.

Agte, a unit coordinator for a Boston hospital and her husband, Matthew Hunt, a business analyst in Newton, Mass., moved to Manchester from Fall River, Mass., last December.

Lloyd Danforth, 60, of Grafton, moved to New Hampshire in 2001 from Hartford, Conn., and lived in Rochester and Keene before moving to Grafton a few years ago.

He is a home improvement contractor and says that he moved to the state to live among people who value freedom and liberty and has found just that in Grafton, where he was elected as supervisor of the checklist in March.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Some inaccuracies

[Pat McCotter]

Yeah, 60 seemed a bit young.

[Lloyd Danforth]

No, he got that right. I told him I've lived in Grafton for about 9 months.

[Rosie the Riveter]

nice article  Porcfest was a blast!!

[kola]

500 people at Porqfest? Wow! Impressive.

maybe I will have to move..hmm.

maybe bunk with Ian too. 

questions:
is anyone keeping track of new people coming to NH and is it on the increase?

any possibilities of getting Ron Paul involved in NH?

Kola

[Kat Kanning]

LlOL...just noticed 'Lleader' 

[Lloyd Danforth]

Porcfest was great.  I'm glad I attended the few day that I did.  It was good to see so many new strange faces as well as the old strange faces from earlier Porcfests and Liberty Forums.

[Lloyd Danforth]

By the way. It was great to see Nick at Porcfest.

[Porcupine_in_MA]

Yeah, some inaccuracies alright, I told them to call me by my title "His Wicked, Dark Majesty from the 9th Circle of Hell" instead of just Matthew Hunt! Man, they don't get anything right! 

[Friday]

Porcfest was great.  I'm glad I attended the few day that I did.  It was good to see so many new strange faces as well as the old strange faces from earlier Porcfests and Liberty Forums.

Exactly.  Good times. 

[Pat K]