"More den' dat" attend Dancing Bruce Protest Rally

It's hard to put an exact number on the amount of people that showed up for the Dancing Bruce Rally. I was planning on getting there at the start, but the chicken was in the oven, my wife was on the way home and I had to make a decision- My wife and our chicken or The Dancing Bruce Rally. My wife and the chicken won, but Bruce's Rally was a very close second... so I was able to catch the last ten minutes of it and capture it on camera.

But the important question is not what was said and what was done. We can figure that out without even going... people dancing, drums being banged, hoopers hooping and fiery speeches reminiscent of the 60's civil rights movement. The media doesn't really care about those parts, they're not news... The real news is: How many people attended the rally for Dancing Bruce.

If anyone should be banned from Weaver Street it's this guy!

Since I was late and I only saw a crowd of 80-100 people and I passed a lot of people leaving as I was arriving, I decided to investigate further so I could put a number on it. I also knew that if I asked a Dancing Bruce supporter then I would be told about 1,000 people were there and if I asked a Dancing Nathan supporter then I would be told a dozen or so. To get an accurate estimate I would have to find a nonpartisan spectator who couldn't care less about how many people were there.

3 drummers drumming, 2 hoopers hooping and.....

The Guest of Honor

I looked over on the bench and saw a little guy with a polyester knit suit, smoking a cigarette and eating from a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. I introduced myself as a reporter from The Carrboro News and asked him if he's read my paper. "Naw", he replied. I asked him where he was from and he muttered something which I couldn't understand...."mmmmm..." I thought to myself, "The strong silent type, I hope he's good with numbers"

"So how many people were here at the height of the rally?", I asked wanted to get right to the point.
"A lot", he answered.
"But in numbers, how many? 20?"
"More den dat!"
"50?"
"More den dat!"
"100?"
"More den dat!"
Wow, I didn't realize it was that big, more than 100!
"200?"
"More den dat!"
"500?"
"More den dat!"
My Goodness, it was big!
"1000?"
"More den dat!"
"2000?"
"More den dat!"
Wow, I didn't realize so many people had left before I got there.
"5000?"
"More den dat!"
This thing was huge, but I'd never get to the bottom of it if I didn't jump by larger increments.
"20,000?"
"More den dat!"
Wow, the whole town showed up, plus 3,000 concerned Chapel Hill neighbors. Could there be more?
"50,000?"
"More den dat!"
That would mean the whole of UNC and more people from Chapel Hill... this thing was big.
"100,000?"
"More den dat!"
That's is huge! and more than enough people to make the front page of the Carrboro News. I really needed to substantiate the facts, before I could print the story, but.... my wife and the chicken were waiting for me.

By now the crowd was thinning, I'd gotten my story and didn't really want to waste any more time checking facts so I thanked my source and headed home, amazed at the turnout.

When I got home and began to write the story, my editor had a hard time believing that many people attended and since I didn't get a name for the source, he didn't want me to release this story and risk infuriating anyone with unsubstantiated facts. To relieve us of liability, we decided to ask our readers who attended to give us an estimate of how many people were there.