An After 'Tail' of the Rio Vista Bass Derby & Festival

In the warm and breezy Sacramento River Delta region, the 2021 Rio Vista Bass Derby opened Oct. 10 to an eager crowd of anglers and festival goers. COS patriots Wanda Kennedy, CA DC 11 and Ann Parkinson, Co-DC 11, from nearby Fairfield, excitedly pitched their display table and settled in for a weekend of local outreach. The two had, weeks earlier and 22 miles away, attended the Fairfield Gun Show and Fairfield Tomato Festival to invite participation in COS and garner petition signatures.

“I was excited at the possibility of a big audience,” Parkinson said. “Turnout was really good.” 

Joined by Karleen Kurys, CA DC 12 and Telepatriot Volunteer Shannon Rowland, the grassroots activists brought the message of freedom from big government through Article V and the Convention of States process.

“My desire to be faithful to the privilege of living in the United States motivates me to be involved in COS,” explained Parkinson. “We hoped we would be able to inspire others to become volunteers then we reminded each other, it was through a similar outreach that we joined the effort,” she said.

Throughout the day, visitors to the table were not the fishermen who launched their boats at dawn and worked all day competing to catch the largest striped bass, salmon, and/or sturgeon. It was the constant flow of landlubbers who rode the tram along the shopping boulevard and strolled from booth to booth in the great weather who stopped to speak with the knowledgeable volunteers.

Beckoned to the petting zoo by distant sounds of goat, rooster, and pony, the people would happen upon the red, white, and blue COS table which sat across from the frolicking farm animals. 

“People are fed up. They’re ready to hear about the Convention of States,” stated Kennedy, a retired airport executive.

“We were so busy Sunday it was like the fish were jumping into the boat,” she exclaimed. “People were walking up and saying, “where do I sign?”