Occupied

“It’s blown up much larger than anyone ever realized.”

Audie Heikkila, Owner of Scio Feed Store

Photo from Oregon Catalyst

By now we’ve all heard of Occupy Wall Street—the demonstrations organized to protest corporate greed. The Occupy movement has spread across the country and around the world: Boston, LA, Seattle, Toronto, London, Berlin, and the list goes on. A radio personality in Oregon is fed up with the all-encompassing Occupy-mania. In an on-air rant, he proclaimed: why not occupy Scio, Oregon (population 812)? Sure, why not, responded the citizens of Scio. But instead of gathering to protest, they wanted to gather to provide support for a local institution: the Big Red Pavilion, named after their beloved red rooster town mascot (see Flew the Coop). Organizers threw together a quick Occupy Scio event last week, where 500 turned out to show their support. The town raised $4,000, which will pay to have wiring and toilets installed in the Big Red Pavilion. When the toilets are in, “Occupied” will have a new meaning in Scio.

Read the article → Small town parodies ‘Occupy’ protests as fundraiser